Jk*^^ /?*^
THE STORY OF THE
TOWN OF READING
A FIRST SKETCH FOR CHILDREN
BY
W. M. CHILDS, M.A
PRINCIPAL OF UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, READING
WITH MAPS AND PLANS \/y
V
READING
WILLIAM C. LONG, London Street
1905
All rights reserved
PRINTED AND BOUND HY
HAZELL, WATSON AND VINEY, LD.
LONDON AND AYLESBURY.
TO
THE CHILDREN
OF
READI NG
PREFACE.
TT^OIl some time I have been engaged
-*- in preparing a history of Reading.
Pew towns possess a greater wealth of
historical interest, and I regret that the
pressure of other duties still delays the com-
pletion of my book. In the meanwhile, I
have been led to believe, partly as the
result of my own personal observations, but
chiefly as the result of representations often
made to me by those engaged in teaching
in the elementary and secondary schools
of Reading, that a brief sketch of local
history, intended primarily for children,
might serve a useful purpose. Hence this
little book.
In writing it I have throughout been
guided by one chief aim. I wished to
make clear the instructive relation between
the life of the town and the life of the
vi PREFACE.
kingdom. I wished to present to my readers
those events and experiences in the history
of Reading, which are of most significance
as illustrations of the history of England.
It will be admitted that I have been for-
tunate in my subject-matter and opportunity.
Again and again it has been possible to show
on the narrow stage at Reading, and close
at hand, the operation of forces, and the
effect of events, which have moulded the
development of the nation. It has always
appeared to me that no teaching of national
history could be entirely satisfactory, which
did not make frequent use of this method.
The large generalities of history text-books
— such as the Danish Invasions, Monas-
ticism, the Reformation, the Personal Rule
of Charles I., the Napoleonic Wars, Modern
Civilisation, and the like, must surely ac-
quire a more pointed and fruitful interest
for a young student if it can be shown that
these large experiences meant something
definite and real and interesting to the place
in which he lives. The boy or girl who has the
patience to read Chapters XVIII. — XXXI. of
this book will at least gain a livelier notion,
FUEFACE. vii
I venture to hope, of what the momentous
experiences of the age of Puritanism and
the Civil War meant to a town in southern
England.
If it should be said that I have omitted
reference to many points of interest in the
history of Reading, my defence must be that
I wished to concentrate attention on the
features I have indicated, and to keep the
book within strictly moderate compass. It
is hardly needful to say that this book is
not intended to supplant, but rather to
supplement — locally — the ordinary text-
books of English history. I hope it may
do something to deepen the sense of local
patriotism.
I am indebted to Mr. Leonard Sutton, and
to Mr. Alfred Palmer, for kindly reading
through the chapter which sketches briefly
the origin and progress of the great businesses
associated with their names. I am grateful
to Dr. J. B. Hurry for allowing me to base
my plan of the Abbey buildings upon the
plan which appeared in his valuable work
on Reading Abbey. My thanks are also due
to Miss Edith Morley, Mr. E. M. Stentou,
viii PREFACE.
Mr. A. H. Peppin, and to my Avife, for
assistance in correcting proof-sheets and for
helpfnl criticism.
The maps and plans in this hook have heen
prepared hy Messrs. William Stanford &
Co., the Oxford Geographical Institute.
W. M. CHILDS.
University College, Reading.
Michaelmas Day, 1905.
CONTENTS
PAGE
I. Old and New . 1
II. The Ancient Heart op Reading ... 6
III. The Making op Reading 13
IV. How King Alfred fought the Danes at
Reading 24
V. The Nunnery op Queen Elfrida . . .30
VI. What Domesday Book tells us 33
VII. How King Henry I. founded the Abbey . 39
VIII. Brethren of St. Francis build a House . 50
IX. The Gild Merchant and the First Mayors 55
X. Famous Scenes and Events at Reading
Abbey 67
XI. The Long Quarrel between the Gild
Merchant and the Abbey .... 78
XII. A Parish Church in the Olden Time . . 86
XIII. How the Free School was founded . . 92
XIV. The Fall of the Abbey and the Friary . 98
XV. How the Last Abbot died for the Old
Faith 104
XVI. How a Master of the Free School died
for the Reformed Faith .... 109
XVII, Royal JVisits to Reading in Tudor. Times . 113
is.
x CONTENTS.
PAGE
XVIII. The Town Three Hundred Years ago . . 115
XIX. The Plague in Reading 122
XX. What caused the Great Rebellion . . 124
XXI. A Star Chamber Punishment . . . .131
XXII. Ship Money . . . . . . .185
XXIII. The First Parliamentary Election Con-
tests 140
XXIV. William Laud, op Reading, Archbishop of
Canterbury 145
XXV. The Siege of Reading 152
XXVI. John Hampden at Reading . . . .161
XXVII. How the Mayor of Reading was kidnapped
by Cavaliers 164
XXVIII. Incidents in Stuart Times . . . .167
XXIX. Independents, Baptists, and Friends . . 171
XXX. Richard Aldworth, Founder of the Blue
Coat School, and Other Benefactors . 175
XXXI. Reading Skirmish of 1688 . . . .179
XXXII. The First Reading Newspaper . . .184
XXXIII. Roads and Canals 187
XXXIV. The Great Reading Fairs . . . .193
XXXV. Prisons and Punishments a Century ago . 196
XXXVI. The First Public Elementary Schools . 200
XXXVII. How the Reform Act of 1832 was cele-
brated 202
XXXVIII. The Opening of the Great Western Rail-
way , . . . 2Q5
XI
PAGE
208
CONTENTS.
XXXIX. The Rise op New Industries .
XL. The Great Change . . . . ' . . 214
XLI. The Great Change (continued) . , . 227
XLII. Conclusion ........ 236
Index 239
MAPS AND PLANS.
1. Reading in 1905 ....
2. Reading in 1813 ....
3. Reading in 1610
4. Railway Approaches to Reading
5. Plan of Reading Abbey
6. Map to illustrate the Siege of Reading
7. Approaches to Reading by Water
Facing p. 6
„ p. 9
„ p. 10
. Atp. 23
Facing p. 42
„ p. 156
. Atp. 191
THE STORY OP
THE TOWN OF READINOx.
I.
OLD AND NEW,
In this book the boys and girls of Reading
will be told the story of the town in which
they live. Let ns begin by stating two things
which may perhaps seem surprising.
The first is that the town of Reading is
very old. It has not sprung up in a few
years like many of the towns of America,
or like some of the manufacturing towns in
northern England. There has been a town
of Reading for more than a thousand years,
and this town has had a famous history.
When we first hear of Reading, Alfred the
Great was a young man, England had not
become one kingdom, and the Danes were
ravaging our coasts. Think how many Kings
and Queens have ruled our country since
the days of Alfred and the Danes, and
I
•j TIIK STOliY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
remember that during all that time, more
than ten centuries, there has been a town
of Reading*.
The second thing is that until not long
ago Heading was quite small. One hundred
years ago it was only about one-eighth of its
present size. Even people still alive can well
remember when it was less than half as big
as it is now.
The truth of these two things about Reading
will be evident presently ; but they may not
be plain at first sight to every one who visits
Heading or walks about its streets. A person
in a hurry would not be likely to discover
either that Reading is an ancient town or
that until lately it was a small toAvn. Suppose
that he is whirled through Reading station in
an express train, or is borne through the town
less swiftly on the top of an electric tram,
or walks about the streets without paying
much heed to what he sees. What will he
be likely to think of Reading ?
From the railway he will see hundreds of
slated roofs, and brick houses, and some fac-
tories with tall chimneys. He will notice
that these houses and buildings fill the valley
from Caversham Bridge to Whitley Hill and
Castle Hill, and from Tilehurst to Erleigh.
He will see at once that Reading is a large
OLD AND NEW. 3
and busy place. He will have heard that
Heading is noted both for biscuits and for
seeds, and perhaps he will know that there
are now about 75,000 people living in Read-
ing, and that this number grows at the rate
of more than a thousand a year. And as he
goes about the toAvn he cannot fail to notice
how much of it is new. He will see street
after street, and road after road, lined with
houses every one of which has been built in
the lifetime of a boy or girl of twelve years
of age. He will see the builders covering the
green fields with new houses. He may notice
that very few of the chief buildings in the
town are really ancient, and perhaps it will
strike him that a person seventy years of
age can remember when none of them were
erected. He can see at a glance that there
is nothing very ancient about the Biscuit
Factory, the Hospital, the Prison, the Assize
Courts, the Town Hall, the University College,
Heading School, the Elementary Schools, the
Electric Tram Depot, the Barracks, the Gas
Works, or about most of the Churches and
Chapels. Even in the Market Place and in
Broad Street, where it is clear that there must
have been buildings for a longer time than
in the new roads beyond the Cemetery and
the Workhouse, there have been great changes
4 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
in the last few years. Shops and houses have
been rebuilt or altered, old streets have been
widened, and new streets have been made.
These changes are still going on. So a visitor
who looked at Reading in this way, and saw
the crowds of people pouring out of the
Factory at dinner-time, or going to see a
football match at Elm Park, or slumping in
Broad Street on Christmas Eve, would be led
to think that Heading was a large, bustling
place with an immense number of new houses
and buildings. He would be quite right to
think this, but it is not the whole truth about
Reading. What is not so easy to perceive
is that this town, in spite of the fact that
much of it looks so new, is really very
ancient. And what is not likely to be found
out, without thought and inquiry, is where-
abouts exactly this ancient part lies. What
is not so quickly understood is that, until
recently and for long ages, this ancient part
was all the Reading there was.
Yet any one can see these things for himself
who is willing to take a little trouble.
Here is an illustration which will tell us
how to go to work. Suppose you take a plant
and cut away the outer leaves and twigs, and
then still keep on cutting away the outer
parts. If you do this long enough you will
OLD AND NEW. 5
come at last to the stem and root. The stem
lies in the middle and at the heart, and with
the root it is the oldest part of the plant.
Now, all old towns are like plants, since they
have a stem, or oldest part, usually towards
the middle. If, then, we cut away the suburbs
or outlying parts of Reading, we shall come
at last to the stem or ancient heart.
II.
THE ANCIENT HEART OF READING.
Here is a plan of the Heading of to-day.* It
will tell us a great deal, and to this we can
add our own knowledge of Heading, gained
by our daily walks through its streets. Thus
perhaps we shall be able to settle what is
the stem or ancient heart of Reading.
There are several ways of finding this out.
Let us choose what is perhaps the easiest.
Let us find out which churches in Reading
are the oldest. England has been a Christian
country for about thirteen centuries, and there-
fore it is likely enough that there are some
ancient churches in Reading.
Now the plan will tell you where many
of the churches and chaj)els are situated,
but it will not tell you which of them are
the oldest. To find this out you must go
* The plan opposite does not try to give more than a
general idea of the extent of the town to-day. Almost the
whole area south of the Great Western main line is now
covered with streets and houses.
6
Oxford
THE ANCIENT HEART OF HEADING. 7
and look at them, or you must recall what
they are like in appearance. You need not
know much about architecture to be able
to judge. There are plenty of fresh-looking
churches or chapels, such as St. Bartholo-
mew's in London Road, or St. George's near
Oxford Road, or All Saints' in Downshire
Square, or the Presbyterian church in London
Road, which clearly are not old at all. They
have not even got graveyards, whereas, until
cemeteries were established about fifty years
ago, every church had a grassy space around
it where the dead were laid to rest. These
new-looking churches, then, without grave-
yards, cannot be the ones we want. Already
you will have settled in your minds which are
the oldest churches, for they are not easily
mistaken. They are three — St. Mary's, St.
Lawrence's, and St. Giles's. The first two
have ancient-looking square towers with battle-
ments at the top and pinnacles at the corners,
and the third has a low tower surmounted
by a tapering spire. All three are built of
stone and flint ; all three have fine peals of
bells ; all three have large churchyards full
of time-worn tombstones. These are the
three ancient parish churches of Reading.
For many ages they have watched over the
town beneath them,
8 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Besides these three churches there is one
other which is also old. It is not perhaps
so old to look at as the others, for much of
it has heen rebuilt in modern times. Yet it
is much older than any church or chapel in
Beading except St. Mary's, St. Lawrence's,
and St. Giles's. Its name alone tells us that
it must have been founded centuries ago. It
is called the church of the Grey Friars. There
have been no grey friars in Beading for more
than three hundred and fifty years, yet still
the church keeps the ancient name. Later
on you Avill hear how this church came to
be founded, and then you will know that it
has stood for about six centuries. The other
three have stood even longer.
Now turn to the map, and note carefully
the position of each of these four churches.
They are by far the oldest churches in the
town. There is no other place of worship
in Beading which is more than about a
hundred years old. Therefore, we may be
sure that around or near these four churches
the oldest Beading lay. Should we not look
for the stem and ancient heart of Beading
within the space of which the churches of
St. Lawrence, and St. Giles, and Grey Friars
are the corners ?
It so happens that we can prove easily that
%
5%
THE ANCIENT HEART OF BEADING 9
we are right in thinking that old Reading lay
within this space. For we have two maps :
one showing Reading as it was nearly one
hundred years ago, in 1813; the other show-
ing Reading as it was nearly three hundred
years ago, in 1610.
Let us look first at the 1813 map.* It
contains many curious things, ahout which
questions might be asked. But all we need
notice just now is that nearly all the houses
in Reading, as it was in 1813, lay within the
space of which the churches of St. Lawrence,
and St. Giles, and Grey Friars are the corners.
If we were to extend our limits a little we
might say that, except for a few houses along
Castle Street, almost all Reading in 1813 lay
within a three-sided figure whose base was
Friar Street and whose two sides united
on the top of Whitley Hill. One of these
two sides was formed by the Market Place,
London Street, and " Sivier Street " (now
Silver Street) ; the other by the " Butts,"
"Seven Bridges," "Horn Street," and South-
ampton Street. Outside these limits were the
open fields. In 1813 there were no rows of
houses along Oxford Road ; nor along London
Road, then called " New Street " ; nor along
Caversham Road ; nor along Bath Road ; nor
* The map is taken from John Man's History of Reading.
10 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF HEADING.
between Bath Road and Oxford Road. King's
Road and Queen's Road did not exist at all.
A century ago, therefore, Reading was very
much smaller than it is to-day. We also see
clearly that in order to reach the stem or
ancient heart of Reading Ave must cut away
all the outlying suburbs until we approach
close to the four ancient churches.
Such was Reading a hundred years ago.
Next, let us look at Reading as it was in
1610. This is a different kind of map, hut
it is easy to understand. It contains even
more curious things than the other map.
Our concern with it now, however, is to find
out what it tells us about the site and extent
of Reading in 1610. Now the more you study
this map of 1610 the more you will be struck
by the way in which it agrees in regard to
these points with the map of 1813. Once more
nearly all the houses are found near the four
ancient churches of St. Mary, St. Lawrence,
St. Giles, and the " Priory " (Grey Friars).
Once more we can say that almost all Reading,
except for a few houses along Castle Street,
lies within the three- sided figure whose base is
Friar Street and whose two sides meet on
Whitley Hill. Outside these limits all was
open fields ; and in order to tell us this the
old map-maker has sketched a maid milking
S MAP OF READING 16IO
THE ANCIENT HEART OF READING. 11
a cow, and horses prancing, in a meadow
just behind London Street.
The map of 1610, therefore, agrees as to
the extent of Reading with the map of 1813.
But both of them, and chiefly the map of
1610, tell us something more about the ancient
heart of Heading. They show clearly that
the chief part of Heading in those old times
lay on the northern bank of the Kennet.
Notice this particularly in the map of 1610.
On the northern bank of the Kennet were
three out of the four ancient churches, and
when Ave remember that the one to the south
bears the name of St. Giles, that St. Giles
was the patron saint of beggars, and that
old churches named after him are often
situated on the highway just outside a town,
we have further proof that the oldest Heading
lay on the northern bank of the Kennet
rather than on the southern. We know
that on the northern side was the oldest
Town Hall, though it is not marked on this
map. On the northern bank also was the
Free School, as the map shows ; here too was
the Market Place ; and here, lying a little to
one side, was the great Abbey of Heading.
We may therefore feel sure that the oldest
part of Heading lies on the northern bank
of the Kennet between the churches of
12 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
St. Lawrence and St. Mary, and betAveen the
church of Grey Friars and High Bridge.
This is the stem or ancient heart of Reading.
Here men settled first, and on this ground the
town of Reading first arose. For hundreds
of years there were hardly any houses out-
side these ancient limits. Then, but at what
date nobody can say, the town began to
extend a little across the Kennet, and the
streets now called Southampton Street and
London Street gradually came to be lined
with houses. Three hundred years ago this
extension was already old ; yet, even so, most
of the houses still lay clustered together on
the northern bank of the Kennet. One hun-
dred years ago the town in appearance was
scarcely any bigger than in 1610. In the
nineteenth century it grew with astonishing
swiftness in all directions, and this growth
still goes on. The causes of growth will be
explained in a later chapter.
III.
THE MAKING OF READING.
We have now seen that Reading is an old
town, and that during most of its long
history it has been quite small. We have
seen whereabouts this old Reading lay.
In what follows about its history we must
always picture Heading to ourselves — until
we come to recent years — as a little town
gathered round its ancient parish churches,
most of it lying on the northern bank of the
Kennet, and all of it encompassed by fields
and meadows.
Before, however, we proceed with its story
let us ask this question — how came there to
be a town here at all ?
It is worth while to try to find an answer
to this question, for an answer there must be.
Towns and villages do not grow up by chance.
Some one founds them, and if they grow to
strength and honour it is because men try to
make them grow, and because their situation
14 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
helps them to grow. In the new countries
of the world to-day, in the United States
and in Australia, new towns and villages are
founded every year by bands of settlers. And
in every case these settlers choose one spot
for settlement rather than others because of
some advantage they believe it to possess—
its fertile soil, good water, pleasant prospects,
healthiness, its safe or convenient situation.
This has always been the way of settlers,
here and everywhere, now and in olden
times.
What, then, was the reason which led men
to settle at Reading ?
We cannot answer that question as if it
were an easy question in arithmetic. No one
knows or will ever know anything about til' 1
man who first settled in Reading, or at any
rate gave to Reading its name. The name
Reading, which is spelled in the old records
in more than a hundred different ways, means
the persons, goods, or property belonging to
a man called Haed. But that is all that is
known about Raed.
But if we cannot answer this question
altogether — how came tit ere to be a Head-
ing? — we can answer it in part. We can
tell pretty clearly why people thought Read-
ing a good place for a settlement. We can
THE MAKING OF READING. 15
understand why a settlement once made there
was likely, as time went on, to grow and
prosper.
Any one can see that Reading was well
situated. It lay on a sunny gravel slope, at
the foot of which ran the streams of Kennet.
The Kennet gave water ; it gave fish ; it
conld turn millwheels for grinding corn. In
later times its waters were very convenient
for dyeing cloth. All around was good land
for corn and pasture — the corn -land on the
higher ground ahove the risk of floods, the
pasture in the meadows along the Thames and
the Kennet. In the woods near at hand
there was plenty of fuel and timber. Along
the rivers were reeds for making thatch, and
osiers for making baskets and wicker-work.
Before bricks were used, houses were often
made of a sort of Avicker-work plastered with
clay ; and the clay of Reading was plentiful,
and in later times it has made good bricks
and tiles. Here, then, are some reasons why
men should think Reading a good place for a
settlement.
To these reasons we may add another. We
may feel sure that the first settlers chose this
particular place partly because they found out
that the Kennet could here be easily forded
or crossed. Whether because the Kennet then
16 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
ran in a broad and shallow stream, or because
the river-bed here was hard and gave good
foothold, or because it ran (as we know it ran
in later times) * in several little channels
easily crossed, it is certain that there has
been from early times a ford, crossing, or
bridge over the Kennet at Reading. Now if
you have business on both banks of a river, it
will save you much time and labour if you
live near a ford or bridge. Therefore, one
reason why men settled at Reading was because
they wished to live near the ford or bridge
over the Kennet. There is, indeed, little
doubt that the very first or oldest settlement
at Reading was on the rising ground, a little
to the north of the ford, near where St. Mary's
church now stands. Two interesting facts
make us think that this was the first site.
One is that the street running down by St.
Mary's church to the Kennet was anciently
called Old Street. It is so named on the
map of 1610 ; but it bore this name long
before 1610. The other is that this part of
the town was anciently called Old Ward.
The use of these names makes it clear that
hundreds of years ago the townsmen looked
upon this as the oldest part of Reading.
Let us next consider why a settlement once
* See tie map of 1610, facing p. 10.
THE MAKING OF READING. 17
made at Reading was likely as time went on
to grow and prosper.
There are many reasons why Reading has
grown and prospered, and some of them will
appear in the course of this hook. But
there has been one chief reason. I mean the
geographical situation of Beading ; that is,
its position on the map of England.
If you look at a map of England, you
will see that Beading lies in the very heart
of southern England. Perhaps you know
already that until about a century and a half
ago, until the days of coal and steel and
cotton, this part of England was by far the
richest and most thickly peopled. Until about
a century and a half ago, nearly all the wealth
and population of England was to be found
south of a line drawn from the Wash to the
Bristol Channel. Beading lies in the very
heart of this favoured region.
This advantage of central situation, however,
would have helped Beading but little had it
not been accompanied by another advantage
equally important. If Beading had been
situated on the top of a steep hill surrounded
by swamps, few people would ever have
come near it, and it could not have become
an important town. But, on the contrary,
Beading has always been very easy of approach.
2
18 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
In all ages travellers and traders have
been able to reach and to leave Reading
with ease.* Further, important routes of
communication have always passed through
Reading, and so there has always been a
constant flow of traffic through the town, and
such traffic has helped forward its prosperity.
These routes of communication have been first
of all, the rivers ; then, the roads ; and then,
the railways. Nowadays, river, road, and
railway are all in use together.
(1) The Rivers.
Reading has always profited greatly
because of its situation on the Kennet, and
because of its nearness to the great waterway
of the Thames. From early times barges have
carried goods between Reading and London,
and Reading and Oxford. In the eighteenth
century, when the river systems were joined
by canals, it was also possible to go by water
from Reading to Bristol, and to Birmingham,
and to Lwerpool. Immense quantities of
goods were carried to and from Reading by
* In a later chapter (p. 187) we shall see that the roads
leading to Reading sometimes fell into a bad state of repair,
but probably they were not worse than roads leading to
other places. There was nothing in the situation of
Reading to make approach to it difficult.
THE MAKING OF READING. 19
water in the days before railways. In 1835 it
was calculated that 50,000 tons of goods were
carried to and from Reading every year, and
that all but 100 tons of this large quantity
was carried by water. The waterways, then,
have always been of great service to Reading
trade, because heavy goods could be carried
in barges so much more easily and cheaply
than on packhorses and waggons by road.*
(2) The Roads.
The rivers were perhaps used for traffic
more than the roads in earlv times. Yet in
all ages a very important main road has passed
through Reading. If you turn to the nuvp of
England, you will see that a line drawn from
London, the great city and port on the east,
to Bristol, the great city and port on the
west, will pass through, or very near to,
Reading. As a matter of fact, this main
highway from west to east passes through
Reading, and you can easily trace the course
it has taken through the town.
In the first place, you will remember that
on the west side of Reading there is a broad
road called the Bath Road, and that Bath is
on the way to Bristol. On the east side of
* A map illustrating the waterways will be found at
p. 191.
20 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Reading there is another broad road called
the London Road. Supposing that you were
travelling by coach a hundred years ago from
Bristol to London, by what streets would you
pass through Reading ? You would come
along the Bath Road, and down Castle Hill
and Castle Street. At the bottom of Castle
Street you would turn sharply to the right,
up Bridge Street. There still stands in Bridge
Street, on the right-hand side, a large dingy-
looking building, now used as the yeomanry
head quarters. This is the old Bear Inn, once
a noted coaching inn. Here perhaps you
would change horses. Then you would hasten
on over the Kennet bridges and away up
the hill |)ast St. Giles's church. At Crown
Street you would turn sharply to the left, and
here you would pass another old coaching
inn, called the Crown Inn, long since pulled
down. As you passed this inn you would see
stretching before you the broad elm-shadowed
London Road. Such was the course taken by
the old east and west road through Reading.
In all ages there has been a great traffic upon
it, and in all ages this traffic has helped to
make Reading prosperous.
But besides the London and Bristol Road,
there is another road, perhaps even more
ancient, passing through Reading which once
THE MAKING OF READING. 21
had much importance. This was the road
which connected Reading with Oxford, and
with the midland country beyond Oxford.
Nowadays if you wanted to walk or ride to
Oxford you would leave Reading by the
present Oxford Road. But two hundred
years ago or earlier you could not have gone
this way, because there was then no such road.
How would you have gone ? You would have
left Reading by Caversham Bridge.
We must not forget this bridge over the
Thames at Caversham, and how near it is to
Reading, and how important to Reading it
has always been. Once, like so many old
bridges, it was beautiful and interesting, with
a chapel in the middle of it, where a wayfarer
might turn aside to j)ray. There has been a
bridge there for nearly seven centuries, if not
longer, and probably before the bridge was
made there was a ford. The old way to
Oxford from Reading crossed the bridge at
Caversham, and then turned \vp the hill past
the church to the left of the bridge, and so
struck over the hills north-west to Oxford.
It was along this old road, approaching
Reading by Caversham Bridge, that King
Charles I. marched his soldiers from Oxford
in 1643, in the hope of relieving Reading,
then besieged by the Roundheads.
22 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF HEADING.
Until modern times bridges across the
Thames were very few, and therefore through-
out its long history the bridge at Caversham
has been very important to Reading. For
ages all the Oxfordshire villages within a
dozen miles of Caversham have been able to
do most of their marketing at Heading because
of this bridge. And similarly, because of this
bridge, in all ages a stream of traffic from the
southward of Reading has passed through
Reading on its way into Oxfordshire.
(3) The Railways.
To-day the greatest route for traffic
is neither highway nor river. The Crown
Inn has been pulled down, and the Bear Inn
has long been closed. New inns have sprung
up in another part of the town to serve a
new line of traffic. This line is the railway.
Notice, first, that the Great Western Railway,
which connects London with Bristol and the
west, runs, just like the old great western
road, through Reading ; and secondly, that
because of this great trunk line a number
of other railways unite with it at Reading.
Here is a map which shows how Reading now
lies at the centre of a railway system which
enables traffic to reach it and to leave it in
almost any direction.
THE MAKING OF READING.
23
RAILWAY APPROACHES TO READING
banbury:
Oxford'
Creat Western Railway **=«■=-«•
Great Central » ■pn-mm-ro
London ^Southwestern , — — -» '
AYLESBURY^
London &. North Western -z ^
South Eastern&Chatham .
Princes A
London . Brighton & South Coast >"n»>
ftisborough TI
June
/ LONDON
READINC
MAIDENHEAD
-^WOKINCHAM f
"i
William Stanford ^Company, Ltd ,
Therefore, Ave can see clearly that in all
ages the situation of Reading has been very
favourable for the growth of its trade and
traffic. This, more than anything else, has
been the reason why the settlement at
Reading grew and throve.
IV.
HOW KING ALFRED FOUGHT THE DANES
AT READING.
The first time we hear anything concerning
Reading is in the year 871. At that date
England was not yet one kingdom under
one king. The English had been settled in
England for more than four centuries. Slowly
and by hard fighting they had won the country
from the Britons who had possessed it before
them. They had become Christians ; and
churches and monasteries had been raised to
the glory of God and for the service of man.
They had produced poets and scholars. Still,
however, the land was severed into different
kingdoms, often at strife with one another.
Of these kingdoms the biggest and strongest
was now Wessex, the kingdom of the West
Saxons. It stretched from Kent on the east
to the river Tamar in the west, beyond which
lay Cornwall or "West Wales"; and from
the shores of the English Channel to the banks
of the Thames. Wessex therefore filled all
24
HOW KING ALFEED FOUGHT THE DANES. 25
the south and west of England. Winchester,
once a Roman city, was its capital ; and
Reading, by the Thames, was one of its
northern towns.
We do not know when people first began
to live at Reading. We have no knowledge
of Reading at all until the end of the year
871, when, says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle,
the Danes came to Reading in Wessex, and
built themselves a strong camp between the
rivers Thames and Kennet, near the point
where their waters mingle.
In your English histories you will have
read of these Danes or Northmen, the fierce
pirates whose home lay beyond the North Sea,
in Denmark, and among the winding fiords
and tall headlands of Norway. They loved
fighting and adventure, and every year, when
the cold and storms of winter were over, they
used to draw their long black ships down to
the waves and sail away in quest of what
fortune might bring them. Band after band
of these sea-rovers swept clown upon the
eastern coasts of England, and everywhere,
even far inland, their passage was marked by
tumult and butchery and the smoking ruins
of house and home, church and monastery.
They spoke no English. They were heathen,
and haters of the English faith in Christ.
2G THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Fighting was their stern joy and glory ; they
knew neither shame nor pity. They went into
battle singing of war and tempest, carrying
two-handed axes five feet long in the shaft
and a foot long in the blade, with which at
a blow skulls were cleft to the shoulder.
Northern and eastern England had yielded
to them, and now at last the conquerors turned
to southern England, to the unvexed realm
of the West Saxons, called Wessex. And they
came to Reading first of all.
The Chronicle tells us that they came on
horseback. Perhaps they rode along the
ancient " Icknield Way," the old track of the
early men, the lonely grassy road which still
leads from eastern England along the foot
of the Chiltern Hills, and enters Berkshire at
Streatley, only a few miles from Reading.
By whatever way they came, it is certain that
they stayed in Reading for more than a year,
and it is likely that the unhappy people of
Beading were either slaughtered at once, or
made captive, or driven forth to seek refuge
in the villages around.
But the Berkshire men were staunch, and
when the alarm was given that the Danes
were at Beading, and were laying waste the
land according to their wont, the Ealdorman
of the Shire, whose duty it was, called the
HOW KIX<_; ALFuED FOtJGHt THE DANES. .:
fighting meu to his standard, and led them to
battle. From many a wattled hamlet along
the river valleys and among the forest tracts
and windy downs, these sons of old England
came forth to war. They had neither iron
eaj) nor shirt of mail nor two-handed axe.
Their best men carried only sword and spear,
and there were many who fought with stone
hammer, and even with scythe. They met
the Danes at Englefield, which means "the
Field of the English." rive miles to the west
of Eeading. and there they fought so bravely
that they beat the Danes, and chased them
to their camp at Reading. Three days after
their victory the Berkshire men were joined
by Ethelred, King of the West Saxons. With
the King was one greater than he. the prince.
his brother, afterwards King of the West
Saxons, renowned for ever as Alfred the Great.
Cheered by their victory at Englefield, the
King and Alfred and all their host pushed
forward to the camp at Eeading and tried to
drive out the Danes. But the Danes had the
shelter of their ditch and palisade, and the
English could not break in upon them nor
drive them out. Rushing forth at last, the
Danes beat the English back in rout, and
Ethelwulf. the brave Ealdorman of Berkshire,
was left among the dead.
28 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Thus at Englefield and at Reading began
what was called in after time the " year of
battles," during which the Danes held to their
camp at Reading. The most famous of these
battles was at Ashdown, on the Berkshire
Downs, near an ancient thorn- tree and not
far from the town of Wantage, where Alfred
was born. Here at Ashdown the valour and
skill of Alfred shone forth, and on that day
men first understood how stern a captain, how
great a patriot he was. Ethelred, the King,
was hearing prayers in his tent, and when the
battle broke upon the English he still tarried
upon his knees. Alfred sent him message
after message, and at last could wait for him
no longer. Like a wild boar, says the chronicler,
he charged with his men up the hillside upon
the Danes. Long and furious was that battle
of long ago upon the grassy slopes now still
and forsaken, but at nightfall the Danes broke
their array, and fled across the hills to their
refuge at Reading. One of their kings and
five of their great nobles were left among the
dead upon the field of battle.
Next year Ethelred, the King, died, and
Alfred became King in his stead. A peace
was made, and then at length the Danes left
their camp at Reading and went away to
London.
HOW KING ALFRED FOUGHT THE DANES. 29
It is, then, in association with these deeds
and men of old renown that the name of
Reading is first written in the pages of the
history of England. Should yon go to Win-
chester, the famous old city where Alfred
was buried, yon will see there a noble statue
of the King who fought the Danes at Reading.
The towering figure holds on high a great
cross-hilted sword. By sword and cross Alfred
lived and wrought for England, defender of
his people, defender of their faith.
V.
THE NUNNERY OF QUEEN ELFRIDA,
After this we hear very little ahout Reading
for more than two hundred years. We may
suppose that after the Danes had gone away
the people gradually came back and rebuilt
their little houses near the ford of the Ken net.
For more than two centuries their life is
hidden from us save for two glimpses. In
986 Queen Elfrida, wife of Edgar, King of
England, is said to have founded at Reading
a nunnery in atonement for the murder of
Edward, King of England, known as the
Martyr. Elfrida was the stepmother of
Edward, who became king in 975, when he
was only thirteen years old. Four years later
he was murdered. You may have heard the
story as it has come clown to us. It is said
that he was returning in the evening to Corfe
Castle, after hunting all day, and that before
dismounting from his horse, being tired and
thirsty, he called for a cup of wine. As he
30
THE NUNNERY OF QUEEN ELFRIDA. 31
leaned forward to take the cup he was stabbed.
He tried to ride away, but fell from his
horse and was dragged by the stirrup, and so
died. There is little doubt that Elfrida, his
stepmother, brought about his murder. In
after years she repented of her crime, and
tried to atone for it by such acts as the build-
ing of this nunnery at Reading. It is said
that this old nunnery stood where the church
of St. Mary now stands.
The only other glimpse of Reading during
this period comes tAventy years after the
founding of Elfrida's nunnery. In 1006,
when Ethelred, known as the " Redeless "
(that is, " without counsel "), was King of
England, there again occurred a terrible
invasion of the Danes. These invasions, you
may remember, were now no longer merely
for the sake of plunder and adventure. They
were made with the object of conquering
the whole country. In this aim the Danes
at last succeeded, and for a time they were
masters of England. Every one remembers
King Canute, their famous leader. The only
concern, however, that Heading had with these
events belongs to the year 1006, when Sweyn
of Denmark issued from his retreat in the
Isle of Wight, went raiding through the south
of England, and, among other deeds, burned
32 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Reading, Wallingford, and Cholscy along the
Thames. It is likely enough that Elfrida's
nunnery was destroyed at this time, and we
may also suppose that from this second Danish
attack the town recovered but slowly.
VI.
WHAT DOMESDAY BOOK TELLS US.
Eor our next information about Reading we
must look in Domesday Book. This famous
book was drawn up by order of William the
Conqueror nearly twenty years after the battle
of Hastings and the Norman Conquest of
England. The purpose of the Book was to
give the King and his officers a clear and
faithful account of every town and village in
the realm, so that they could easily reckon
how much of the great land tax called Dane-
geld each holder of land ought to pay.* The
gathering together of so much information
took a long time, and we may picture to
ourselves the King's officers riding from place
to place through the country, and questioning
the chief men of towns and villages, and
* Danegeld was originally tribute-money paid by the
English to the Danes. It is first mentioned in the year
991. Danegeld was one of King William's most valuable
sources of income. He used it to the full. " He laid on
men a geld exceeding stiff,"
34 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
carefully writing clown their answers. All this
information was afterwards brought to order
and written out fair in Latin in a book which
obtained, no one knows how, the name of
Domesday Book. What the Book tells us
about Beading takes up only twenty-one
lines. Little as it is, it is enough to make
us understand that the Beading of King
"William was different indeed from the Beading
of to-day.
Beading, the Book says, belonged to the
King. It was a "king's manor," and it was
heavily taxed. The little town, if we may
call it a town, was still chiefly busy with
agriculture. Bloughing and sowing and reap-
ing were its business rather than making and
buying and selling goods. The cluster of
houses stood amidst tracts of j^loughland
and meadow. Beyond this again was the
waste. Some of the Beading land was farmed
by King William himself, and the rest of
it was farmed under him by the people of
the town. Most of these peojDle were called
villeins. A villein was a man who had a little
farm. He did not at this date pay a rent in
money for his farm, but instead of a money
rent he was obliged, during part of his time,
to labour without wages and to perform other
services for the lord of the manor, in this
WHAT DOMESDAY BOOK TELLS US. 35
case the King. These villeins could not go
away from Heading, nor get married, nor bny
and sell oxen, nor grind corn, without the
leave of the lord of the manor. So that,
although they were perhaps not usually very
badly off, yet they were not really free to do
as they liked. There were fifty-five of these
villeins, and below them were thirty bordars,
or cottagers. There were four mills. The
Kennet then and long afterwards flowed not
in one or two channels, but in many little
channels, and these swiftly flowing streams
were well suited for driving water-mills. It
is likely enough that one or more of the
Domesday mills stood on the site of the town
mills in Mill Lane, a spot now covered by the
Tramway Depot.* There w r ere three fisheries,
and there was w r oodland enough to pasture a
hundred pigs. The woodland would doubtless
be situated towards the borders of the Reading
lands. Ploughing was then done by oxen,
and we know from the record that there must
have been at least 400 oxen on the manor of
Reading.
Domesday Book further tells us that Reading
was a burh, or borough. Burh is an old
English word, and it meant at first a fortified
hill-to]3, or a camp, or a palisaded dwelling,
* See map of 1610 facing p. 10.
36 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
In times somewhat later the strong places of
a district came to be called burhs, and it was
the dnty of the landholders to keep the burh
in a good state of defence. Such a burh was
Wallingford, where there was a noted ford
and bridge over the Thames. At the time
of Domesday Book there is no doubt that
Wallingford was a far more important place
than Reading. Reading, however, at that
time was the only place in Berkshire called
a burh besides Wallingford. There may have
been some kind of stronghold at Beading, but
if so we cannot be sure where it was. It
is certain that Beading was never a town
enclosed by walls and gates.
A burh was usually something else besides
a place of strength. Usually it was a place
of trade, of buying and selling. It is likely
that there were already in Beading a few
traders. The Saxon laws only allowed mints,
where coined money was made, to be placed
in burhs. A burh was considered to be a
safe place ; hence traders resorted to it,
and so a mint would be useful. So we are not
surprised to learn that even before the Norman
Conquest there was a mint in the burh of
Beading.
Domesday Book also tells us that the Abbot
of Battle Abbey had property in Beading.
WHAT DOMESDAY BOOK TELLS US. 37
He had a church there, and some tenants,
and two mills, and some fisheries, and plough-
land and meadows, and enough woodland for
five pigs. The name "Battle" still survives
in Reading in Battle Earm and Battle School.
This is almost all that the entry in Domesday
Book tells us concerning Beading. Poor and
small as it was, it was one of the most valuable
manors in Berkshire.
*****
How far away it seems — this Beading of
Domesday Book ! Yet, can you not picture
it lying there on the rising ground just north
of the ford or bridge over the Kennet ? Up
from the Kennet crossing ran the miry street,
and huddled together on either side of it were
the " cots " of the villeins and bordars, built
of clay and turf and wattles, each in its little
" toft " or yard. Among them stood the
church, perhaps of wood also, belonging to
the Abbot of Battle. Around and spreading
far were the wide hedgeless fields where, fol-
lowing the ploughman with his lumbering
team of eight oxen, the sower flung the seed
broadcast upon the freshly turned earth. In
the distance were the thickets and swamps,
still the haunt of wolves and beavers. By
the rivers were the mills for grinding corn,
and near to them the pasture whither at dusk
38 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
the oxherd drove the slowly moving oxen.
Those who dwelt in this little town chiefly
laboured in the fields for their scanty living.
Besides the field-folk there might be a priest,
a bailiff, a salter, a baker, a miller, a smith,
a wheelwright, and perhaps a few chapmen or
traders. Life was hard for all, though at
harvest-tide and Yule-tide and such times
there were rude f eastings and merrymakings.
In summer perhaps it was well enough. But
in winter the cold pinched, and food was
scarce. Then the rivers rose in flood and
filled the wide valleys with rushing waters,
and thick mists hung above the undrainecl
lands. The people of those days were glad
indeed to hear the cry of the cuckoo in the
woods, for then they felt that summer once
again was nigh.
VII.
HOW KING HENRY L FOUNDED THE
ABBEY*
Fkom 108G, the date of Domesday Book, until
1121 we know nothing of the fortunes of
Reading. This was a period of much suffering
for the English jjeople, for they were oppressed
by their Norman masters. The days when
the two races should become one and forget
their bitter strife were not yet.
Prom 1100 to 1135 the King of England
was Henry I. Henry, nicknamed " the Clerk "
because of his studious tastes, was the youngest
son of William the Conqueror. Like his
father before him, he was a mighty hunter
and a hardworking King. He ruled sternly,
and sometimes cruelly, yet the people praised
the good order that he kept. Robbers and
lawbreakers, whether of low or high degree,
got no mercy from him. " Good man he
was," says the chronicler of those days, " and
great awe there was of him. No one durst
misdo another in his time. Peace he made
39
40 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
for man and deer." He built many churches
and monasteries ; and he it was, Henry the
Clerk, Henry the burly, black-haired hunter,
who founded the renowned Abbey of Reading.
At this time monasteries were arising in
all parts of England. These monasteries, of
which the greater were called abbeys, were
settlements of religious men (less often of
religious women), who turned away from the
pleasures of the world and vowed to live,
quietly and apart, a life of piety and good
works. Often they chose for their refuges
places wild and solitary, such as the vales
of Yorkshire or of Wales. They did a noble
work in preserving and upholding learning.
Besides this, they were skilful farmers ; they
made roads and bridges ; and they brought
more and more of the waste land into cul-
tivation. Sometimes, no doubt, the monks
who dwelt in these monasteries forgot their
high purpose and grew careless and lazy ;
but for ages they laboured truly, and the
buildings that they raised are still, though
now desolate and in ruins, among the most
beautiful we possess. And we should not
forget that noble buildings cannot be built
by ignoble men.
Henry, the King, resolved to build a great
Abbey at Reading. Perhaps he had noticed
HOW HENRY I. FOUNDED THE ABBEY. 41
that Reading was well situated, as we have
already seen, for those who had any need
to travel about the country ; and perhaps
he had noticed also that, lying protected
between the Kennet and the Thames, there
was, at the spot now called the Eorbury
Gardens, a piece of high ground commanding
fair prospects and never flooded by the rivers.
Here in security an Abbey might well stand.
The task of building the Abbey was begun
in the year 1121. It was more than forty
years before even the main buildings were
finished. Seven monks from the Abbey of
Cluny in France crossed the sea at the King's
request to tell the workmen how to set about
their task. The Abbey of Cluny was a branch
of the great Benedictine Order of monasteries,
and the monastery of Reading thus became
a Benedictine monastery. It was planned on
a grand scale. Within the strong boundary
wall of the monastery were thirty acres of
ground. The enclosure reached from the
present Town Hall to beyond the Prison, and
from the South Western Railway arch to
about the line of King's Road.* The boundary
wall was pierced by four stately gateways,
and was divided within into two main courts.
The chief gateway was the Compter gateway,
* See the Plan cf the Abbey facing p. 42.
42 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
which stood just at the north end of the
Market Place by St. Lawrence's church. On
the left of the Compter gateway was the
church of St. Lawrence, and bevond the
church were the buildings known as the Hos-
pital of St. John the Baptist. This hospital
occupied the ground where the municipal
buildings now stand, and a piece of it still
remains behind the large Town Hall.
Let us pass through the Compter gateway,
and try to picture the scene. Directly in
front of us, about one hundred yards away,
we should behold the majestic west front
of the Abbey church. This church, like so
many of the churches of that day, was built
in the form of a cross. Erom the intersection
of the arms of the cross rose a square central
tower, surmounted by a spire and cross. So
utterly has this splendid church vanished away,
hardly one stone being left upon another,
that it is now not easy to believe that if you
had been able to measure it from the western
door to the threshold of the lady chapel at
its eastern end, you would have found that
the length was 450 feet — that is to say, rather
longer than the famous Abbey at Westminster.
On the right hand of the Abbey church (that
is, on the southern side of it) were numerous
buildings, nearly all traces of Avhich have
ern
em Ry-
PLAN OF
READING ABBEY.
SCALE OF FEET
200
4-00
i Hosprtum of S* John the Baptist.
2 Transepts.
3 Chapels.
a Vestry &Treasury.
5 Domus Necessana?(RERE dorter)
6 Kitchen.
7 Abbots Garden
HOW HENRY I. FOUNDED THE ABBEY. 43
now disappeared. Here were the cloisters,
or covered arcades, surrounding and looking*
forth upon a sequestered court. Here too
was the Abbot's dwelling with its garden ;
the treasury of the Abbey ; and upon the south
side of the cloisters was the refectory, or dining
hall, of the monks. Beyond these buildings,
where the masses of ivy- clad ruin yet stand,
were the chapter house, or meeting hall of
the monks, and their dormitory, or sleeping
place. Close to the southern boundary, near
the little stream which, because it ran through
the Abbey enclosure, obtained the name of the
holy or hallowed brook, were the stables, bake-
houses, and mill.
The Abbey enclosure, as already said, was
divided into two courts. Men passed from
the outer court, Avhere the Abbey church stood,
into the inner court, where stood the Abbot's
lodging, through the inner gateway ; and it
is this inner gateway which yet remains, just
at the end of the modern row of houses called
Abbot's Walk. Close by the inner gateway
stood a house for the reception of lepers. In
the Compter gateway was a prison, and beyond
the Abbey church was an infirmary for the
comfort of sick monks.
These, then, were the chief buildings of
Reading Abbey. Most of them were finished
44 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
by the year 1193. The Abbey church it-
self was consecrated by the Archbishop of
Canterbury, the famous Thomas Becket, in
1164, in the presence of King Henry II. and
many bishops and barons. The lady chapel,
which stood at the east end of the Abbey
church, was not added until 1314.
The group of monastic buildings, when
finished, was one of the most splendid in
England. All of them were of stone, and
you can easily imagine how fair they must
have looked when the sun glanced upon their
many towers and pinnacles, battlements and
buttresses, vanes and windows. Peaceful
meadows bordered the walls of the Abbey on
its northern and eastern sides, Beyond the
meadows the reed-fringed Thames flowed on-
ward to the woods of Sonning. Eastward
stretched the Abbot's deerpark. Westward
along the banks of the Kennet were the lowly
dwellings of the burgesses of Heading. In
tranquil majesty King Henry's Abbey towered
OA^er the vale.
It is certain that the Abbey could accommo-
date at least 300 persons in addition to the
pilgrims and wayfarers who were given shelter
and food in the hospitium, or guest house,
of St. John. The monks did everything for
themselves. Here within the limits of the
HOW HENRY I. FOUNDED THE ABBEY. 45
Abbey they lived and toiled and studied and
worshipped and died. They ground their
own corn and made their own bread. Their
own Abbey lands supplied them with food and
fuel. They brewed their own ale ; they made
their own clothes. Those of them who were
studious or expert worked in the cloisters at
their books, or at the more skilled handicrafts,
such as carving or gilding. For all of them,
by day and by night, there were at regular
times the services of the church. It is a
strange thing to consider that this full and
ordered life continued in the Abbey without
a break for more than four hundred years, from
the days of the first King Henry to the days
of the last King Henry ; and that then it came
suddenly and for ever to an end. During all
these four hundred years you must think of
the black-robed monks with shaven crowns
moving about the Abbey on their daily busi-
ness, and through the streets of Reading
outside their gates. You must think of the
lepers and the beggars craving alms at Compter
gateway ; of the noisy dealers and wayfarers
munching their dole in the guest house of
St. John, or busy with their waggons and jmck-
horses in the yard outside ; of the stream of
pilgrims wending their way through the outer
court into the church of the Abbey in order
46 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
to venerate the precious relics which were
there preserved ; of the stately Abbot, with his
retinue of servants ; of the tolling of hells ;
of the pageantry and solemn music ; of the
worship in the church.
Such during four centuries was the Ahhev
of Reading. We cannot douht that its
presence had much effect upon the town at
its gates. In the first place, the Ahbot of
Reading was the master of the town. When
King Henry I. founded the Abbey he caused
a charter to be drawn up setting forth the
rights and privileges of the Abbey. Now
in this charter it is stated, among other
things, that the King has given to the Abbey
" Reading itself," together with important
rights and powers of executing justice upon
the people of Reading if they did wrong,
and of taking toll or taxes from them, and
of managing in various ways their affairs.
We shall see presently that the people of
Reading came very greatly to dislike being
thus placed under the control of the Abbots.
Secondly, it is likely enough that the
establishment of the Abbey caused the town
of Reading to be drawn, as time went on,
nearer and nearer towards its gates. It seems
probable, as Ave have already seen, that the
earliest Reading lay by St. Mary's church,
HOW HENRY I. FOUNDED THE ABBEY. 47
near the ford which crossed the Kennet in
the line of the present Bridge Street and
Southampton Street. But then we know that
the old Gild Hall, or Town Hall, of the bur-
gesses was much nearer to the site of the
Abbey. It was situated near Duke Street,
in or close by a lane still called " Yield-
hall " (that is, Gild Hall) Lane. Again, we
find the Market Place of Beading situated
just outside the main gate of the Abbey.
Why should this be so ? May we not sup-
pose that the country people and others
preferred to buy and sell at this spot because
of its nearness to the Abbey, and that the
Abbot himself was glad to have the Market
Place just outside his doors because he levied
tolls or taxes upon bargains and sales ?
Further, the Abbey drew to Beading many
visitors. Pilgrims came from all parts of
England, and even from foreign lands, to
venerate the treasured relics ; traders flocked
to the Abbot's fairs, which several times a
year were held in the Forbury, or outer court
of the Abbey ; kings and bishops and nobles
and their retinues were often guests of the
Abbot ; and from time to time there assembled
at the Abbey councils of the church, and even
parliaments of the realm. This constant flow
of visitors and traffic was of benefit to the
48 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
town. It must have helped the traders and
innkeepers. Even the resources of the Abbey
could hardly have satisfied all the wants of
all the visitors who came to Reading.
Lastly, let us not forget that the Abbey
must have helped Reading in another way.
The standards of life in those times were
often low and hard. Lawlessness and cruelty
existed then no less than now, and perhaps
even more then than now. Very few people
cared at all for the higher aims of life ; and
therefore something must have been owed
to the Abbey, because, notwithstanding any
faults, it afforded protection to those who
dwelt beneath its shadow, and because it
held up to them an ideal. It reminded men
that the noblest life was a life wisely ruled,
a life consecrated by service to God and man.
It said and it showed that order was better
than disorder, work better than sloth, self-
denial and simplicity of life better than brutal
self-indulgence. Moreover, the Abbey was
the home of scholarship. There were then
no schools in Reading at all. Had it not
been for the monks, men might have for-
gotten or never known that there was such
a thing as learning. We know that at Read-
ing Abbey there was a wonderful library.
It contained books, some of them beautifully
HOW HENRY I. FOUNDED THE ABBEY. 49
illuminated, on music, mathematics, as-
tronomy, law, and history. Perhaps the
oldest piece of English music, a song of joy
at the approach of summer, was first written
down hy a Heading monk. We may feel sure
that however much in some ways the people
of Reading may have disliked being ruled
by the masterful Abbots, yet in other ways
they were none the worse, and indeed were
much the better, for living in the near
presence of this wonderful institution, which
taught men that the highest life was the life
of piety, scholarship, and labour.
f
VIII.
BRETHREN OF ST. FRANCIS BUILD A
HOUSE.
It was the year 1233. The third Henry was
King of England. Heading was becoming
a busy little town, and Adam of Lathbury
ruled the Abbey as eleventh Abbot. One day
some new preachers, eager bright-eyed men,
wearing grey cloaks, besought Abbot Adam
to be allowed to settle in the town. These
were the brethren of St. Erancis — the " Grey
Eriars."
Nearly twenty years before, the good St.
Erancis of Assisi, in Italy, had formed
a band of disciples, and sent them forth
to win souls for Christ. These disciples
shunned all wealth and ease. They embraced
poverty and self-denial. They were to have
neither gold, nor silver, nor brass in their
purses, nor scrip for their journey, neither
two coats, nor yet staves. They cared for
naught save the gospel of Christ. They went
forth, two and two, to succour the fallen, to
BRETHREN OF ST. FRANCIS BUILD A HOUSE. 51
comfort the miserable, to teach the ignorant,
to rebuke the sinful, to chasten the proud.
St. Francis filled their souls with love and
fire. They came to England in 1224, and
they passed from town to town, and from
village to village, preaching in the highways,
and in market places, and wherever they
could persuade men to hearken to them.
Their eager pleading stirred the hearts of
men as the sound of a trumpet on a hillside
stirs dwellers in the valley. In 1233 they
came to Reading, and in Heading they wished
to stay if the Abbot would give them leave.
The Abbot perhaps was not best pleased to
have these fiery missionaries so close to his
own doors. It was the wont of Abbots to
love the quiet and ordered ways of life, and
to love but little the trumpet calls which
broke in upon their peace. He did not say
them nay ; neither did he treat them very
generously. " There is," said he, " a piece
of waste ground near the King's highway
leading to Caversham Bridge. This you may
have, and there you may build a house ; but
if you disobey the rules which I strictly
lay upon you, I shall require you to give
it up and go away." The poor Friars
humbly accepted this piece of the waste,
and built their house upon it. But the
52 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
situation proved very uncomfortable. The
site lay low in the water-meadows, and from
time to time floods rose and washed over
it. Often the Friars were driven out of
house and home ; sometimes they Avere nearly
drowned, and in the winter, because of the
deep waters about them, they often could not
reach the town to get food. So in 1282 the
Archbishop of Canterbury, Avho had himself
once been a Friar of St. Francis, j)leaded
with the Abbot of Reading on behalf of his
poor brethren. Friars, he said, were men of
very simple mind ; they were not clever
builders — indeed, their houses often tumbled
down ; they sorely needed some one to protect
them and to advise them. Could not the
Abbot help them ?
The Abbot thought it over, and three years
later he gave the Friars a new piece of land.
It was nearer to the town than the first piece,
and on higher ground. Here the Friars were
safe from floods, and now they began to build
in earnest. A rich noble gave them fifty-six
oaks with which to build, and thev seem to
have received other gifts. About 1311 their
buildings were completed. Of these buildings
the chief was the church. It did not pretend
to rival the glories of the Abbey church, but
nevertheless it was a beautiful building. The
BRETHREN OF ST. FRANCIS BUILD A HOUSE. 53
style in which it was built was different from
the style of the church in the Abbey. When
the Abbey was founded men built in the
Norman style, of which the great features are
strength and solidity, and the rounded pillars,
arches, doorways, and windows. By 1300,
however, builders had become more skilful,
and they loved forms that were graceful and
slender and delicate, rather than forms that
were massive and plain. They now built
in a style of which the chief features were
lightness and grace, and the rich tracery of
the windows. It was in this style that the
church of the Grey Friars at Reading was
built, and, though much smaller than the
church of the Abbey, we can tell from such
old parts of it as still remain that it was a
building of beauty.
Here, then, the Friars, no longer roaming
missionaries without home or goods, abode for
nearly two hundred and fifty years. Later on
we shall see how their life was cut short. As
time went on they seem to have obtained
more land. Behind their church and house
was a pleasant field with trees and ponds,
and beyond lay an orchard. Indeed, it may
be that in Beading, as elsewhere, the Eriars
strayed from the strict way of life laid down
for them by St. Francis, their founder, and
54 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
came to lead lives of comfort and ease rather
than lives of effort and self-denial. But
of their life in Reading we know little for
certain. In the end they were harshly turned
forth upon the streets, and Reading soon
knew them no more. Some of their buildings
passed into private hands. Their beautiful
church suffered strange fortunes. At one
time it was used as a town hall, at another
as a kind of workhouse, and later still as
a prison. It was not until 1863 that it was
saved from further evil usage, and given back
after three centuries to its first purpose as
a house of God. Perhaps no church in
England has had a stranger story.
IX.
THE GILD MERCHANT AND THE FIRST
MAYORS*
Meanwhile the trade of Reading was growing
apace. The people were no longer merely
toilers in the fields. There is an old story that
in the reign of King Edward I. (1272—1307)
there nourished at Reading a rich clothier, #
called Thomas Cole, whose waggons were con-
tinually going to and fro between Reading
and London. We cannot altogether believe
this story, hut it is certain that as early as
this time the trade in cloth had begun in
Reading. We know that there was a cloth
market in Reading as early as 1311, and
perhaps even before ; and we know also that,
from this time for at least four centuries, the
trade in cloth was the mainstay of the
prosperity of Reading.
In all times England has been noted for
its fine sheep pastures, and for the produc-
tion of great quantities of wool. After the
* By " clothier " is here meant a maker of cloth.
56 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Norman Conquest of 1066 the trade in wool
grew fast. At first the wool used to be packed
in sacks, and carried from the inland pastures
down to the ports and shipped over to Flanders.
There the cunning Flemish weavers made it
into cloth, and much of this Flemish cloth
woven from English wool was shipped back
again to England, and sold to the English
people. But after a time the English learned
how to make their wool into cloth for them-
selves without sending it to Flanders. King
Edward I. wisely encouraged the English to
do this, and it is said that he brought over
Flemish weavers to Bristol in order that his
English subjects might learn from them the
best ways of making cloth. The Kings who
came after Edward followed his example in
helping on the cloth trade. So at length the
English ceased to send much wool abroad, but
kept it nearly all at home and made it into
cloth themselves. Throughout southern and
eastern England scores of towns and villages
were by 1450 busy in making cloth, and were
growing rich by so doing. Among the towns
were Beading and. Newbury.
It is clear that even before 1300 Beading
was no longer merely a village. The Friars,
as we have seen, settled in Beading in 1233,
and it was not their wont to settle in
GILD MERCHANT AND FIRST MAYORS. 5*J
villages. Again, in 1295, King Edward I.
asked each of the chief towns of England
to send two burgesses to sit in Parliament.
Among these towns was Reading. About the
same date we can perceive in Heading the
rise of the trade in cloth. We know that
earlier still Reading possessed a Gild Mer-
chant. It is the Gild Merchant which must
now be considered.
The Gild Merchant of Heading is first heard
of in the year 1253, but it is certain that it
existed even earlier. In 1253 we find that
the Gild Merchant of the burgesses of Head-
ing had been quarrelling with the Abbot of
Heading. The Abbot took his complaint to
a court of law, and it is in the records of
this trial that we hear for the first time of
the Gild Merchant of Heading.
A Gild Merchant, first of all, was an
association of traders. This association had
two chief objects. The first was to protect
the traders of a town from the competition
of those who did not belong to the town
or to the Gild Merchant. Thus in Heading
no "foreigner" (that is, outsider, one who
dwelt outside the town) was allowed to set
up in the town a shop or stall unless he
had the permission of the Gild Merchant.
The second object of the association was to
58 THE STOUY OF THE TOWN OE READING.
make rules for the management of trades
carried on within the town.
The Gild Merchant, then, was first of all
a trading association, and therefore, where-
ever we hear of a Gild Merchant, as in
Reading in 1253, we may he sure that there
was trade going on. Gilds Merchant are not
heard of in England before the Norman
Conquest. But one of the results of the
Norman Conquest was to increase the traffic
between England and the rest of Europe.
Partly for that reason English trade began to
grow rapidly, and during the two centuries
after the Norman Conquest we hear of Gilds
Merchant in nearly all the chief trading towns.
But although the Gild Merchant was first
of all a trading association, it often happened
that in course of time it came to be concerned
with other things, and even more important
things, than trade. This happened to the
Gilds because of their wealth and strength.
In Reading, as in some other toAvns, the Gild
Merchant was by far the strongest organisa-
tion in the town.* Gradually the Gild came
to have more and more to do with the general
government of the town. In Reading the
Gild Merchant in the end grew into the
* That is, apart from the Abbey, which was rather
distinct from the town than a part of it.
GILD MERCHANT AND FIRST MAYORS. 59
municipal authority, or Town Council. This
growth and change came very slowly indeed,
and it would not he easy to say when the
old Gild finally disappears and the history
of the Town Council of Reading hegins.
The one, little hy little, passes into the other,
just as the root of a tree passes into the
trunk. For a lonsr time the head of the Gild is
spoken of sometimes as the Custos or Warden
of the Gild, and sometimes as the Mayor.
After the middle of the sixteenth century
Mayor of the borough is the only title used.
Let us speak first of the Custos or Mayor,
the chief officer of the Gild. Every year
three burgesses, or members, of the Gild,
chosen by the rest of the Gild in their Gild
Hall, proceeded on the feast of St. Michael
the Archangel to the Compter gate of the
Abbey. Thence they were led to the great
hall, where the Abbot would be sitting in
state to receive them. The Abbot then chose
one of the three to be the Custos (or Warden)
of the Gild for the coming year. The duties
of the Custos were very important. He had
to preside at the meetings of the Gild, and
to see that the officers of the Gild did their
work. He had to speak on behalf of the
Gild, and to act for it, on public occasions.
For example, in 1318 the Custos Avent to
60 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
London to see that a burgess of Reading was
not wrongly taxed. If the King came to
Reading the Custos might be required to go
in his best clothes to meet him and to offer
him gifts. The Custos had an allowance to
meet the expenses of his office, but the allow-
ance was not large. In 1302 it was no more
than twenty shillings.
It was the Custos or Mayor who acted as
peacemaker when the burgesses quarrelled
with one another, as they often did. After
a meeting of the Gild the rule was for the
burgesses, two and two together, to escort
the Mayor through the streets to his own
doors. Any burgess who threatened to hurt
him, or who abused him, or who disobeyed
him, might be turned out of the Gild, or
fined, or otherwise punished. The Mayor
wore robes of office, and a hood upon his
head. It was he who kept the charters and
the silver plate belonging to the Gild. In
the fifteenth century he was allowed to have
a mace (or staff of office) borne before him
by two sergeants. Sometimes the Mayor
gave a dinner to the Gild. The first existing
mention of the office of Custos, Warden, or
Mayor is in a record of the year 1302. Yet
there is no doubt that the office existed even
before that date.
GILD MERCHANT AND FIRST MAYORS. 61
Besides the Mayor, there were other officers
of the Gild. First of these were the Cofferers,
who in a strong chest in the Gild Hall kept
the moneys of the Gild. It was they who
collected the rents of the Gild, and kept the
Gild accounts on parchment rolls. Then
there was the Clerk of the Gild, avIio wrote
down in a hook what the Gild did at its
meetings. Many of the Clerk's hooks are
still preserved at the Town Hall. In the
end his office grew into the office of the Town
Clerk of Heading. Then there were the Con-
stables, whose duty it was to seize those who
broke the law and to keep the pillory and
stocks in good order. Next came the Ward
Keepers, who were required to see to the
good order of the streets and to drive stray
pigs into the pound. Sergeants at Mace are
first mentioned in 1187, when the King said
in a new charter that the Mayor might have
a mace. It was the duty of the Sergeants at
Mace to ring the common bell to warn the
Mayor and burgesses of meetings at the Gild
Hall ; to attend, with the mace, upon the
Mayor on Sundays and holy days when he
went to church ; and to keep the Gild Hall
clean. They also served warrants upon
law-breakers, and cried proclamations in the
Market Place. Lastly, there were the officers,
62 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
called Searchers, whose duty it was to see
that the trades in the town were carried on
according to the orders of the Gild.
The Gild Merchant consisted of the chief
traders in Reading. The number of members
or " burgesses " who belonged to it varied
from forty to eighty. When a burgess was
admitted to the Gild he bad to pay a fee, as
well as all or part of the cost of a breakfast
to the Mayor and burgesses held on such
occasions. We happen to know what the bill
of fare was at one of these breakfasts in 1497.
It consisted of " befe, lambe, hennys, chekyns,
suger, wyne, grese, floure, orrengis, and pow-
ther." It cost altogether six shillings.* Every
burgess had also, on admission to the Gild, to
swear an oath that he would be a true and loyal
member, and not tell any one its secrets.
A Gild Hall has already several times been
mentioned. From what is said in a record of
the year 1254 we know that a Gild Hall
existed then, but we are not told where it
was situated. In 1420 a new Gild Hall was
built, and it was situated near the George
Inn and the hallowed brook. It was quite
a small building. At its western end was a
barn ; on its southern side was a stable,
a garden, and a dye house. In 1442, when
* See note at p. 136.
GILD MERCHANT AND FIEST MAYORS. 63
the Gild Merchant was very thriving, the
Hall was much improved. We hear of its
clock-house and bells to chime the hours, and
of the pictures of King Henry VI. and King
Henrv VII. that hung within. It was in the
Gilcl Hall that the business of the Gild was
done. It was here that, ever since 1295, the
two members of Parliament for Reading were
chosen. Hither on Friday mornings, at the
summons of their bell, came the burgesses
in their gowns. Here were held the dinners
and the breakfasts. Here took place enter-
tainments before the Gild, as, for instance,
when the play-actors from one of the villages
near, such as Henley or Aldermaston, Sonning
or Wokingham, asked leave to show their
skill. For hundreds of years the Gild Hall
was the centre of the trade and business of
Heading even more than the municipal
buildings of to-day. In the end, however,
this old Hall proved to be too small. More-
over, it stood close to the water's brink,
just where the women came to wash clothes
in the river. The noise they made when
beating their clothes and linen with
"bateldores " was so great that the burgesses
in their Hall often could not hear one another
speak. And so, in 1543, the Mayor and
burgesses were allowed to have instead of
64 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
their old Hall the chief part of the church of
the Grey Friars, from which the Friars had
just heeii driven forth.
The Gild regulated very strictly the trading
affairs of Reading. Only those who were
members of the Gild might trade freely within
the town, and traders from other j)laces, the
"foreigners," were sharply watched and
jealously controlled. They might come to
the town to trade only during fair time, or
on fixed occasions, and they had to pay toll
for any privileges. The Gild, in short, did
all it could to keep the profits of the town
trade entirely to itself. Moreover, it passed
many rules affecting even its own members.
Thus no barber was allowed to shave any
but certain privileged persons after nine
o'clock at night between Easter and Michael-
mas. All the methods of making cloth were
strictly regulated with the object of prevent-
ing the manufacture of cloth of poor quality.
Much of the business of the Gild was con-
cerned with matters of this kind.
Such was the Gild Merchant of Reading
during the three hundred years from about
1250 to 1550. It received, during this long
period, many charters from the King, each
one adding a little to its liberties and
privileges. These charters, beautifully written
GILT) MERCHANT AND FIRST MAYORS. 65
and illuminated, are still preserved at the
Town Hall. At last, in 1542, the burgesses
received a most important charter, by which
the Gild Merchant of Reading became recog-
nised as a corporate body for the management
of town affairs generally. Henceforth the
name of Gild, and many of the old ideas
connected with it, seem to fade away, and we
hear more and more of the Mayor and Cor-
poration. Thus the Town Council of Reading
has a long history stretching away behind it
into the distant past. We cannot really say
with sureness when its history begins, so dim
are its origins, but we can truly say that it
goes back for more than six hundred and
fifty years.
Let us recall how a Mayor of Reading is
now elected.
On November 9 th, 1904, the Members of
the Town Council of the Borough of Reading
being assembled in the small Town Hall, the
Deputy Mayor (Mr. Councillor Bull J pro-
posed " that this Council do now elect Martin
John Sutton, Esquire, of Henley Bark in the
County of Oxford, and of Market Place,
Reading, one of His Majesty's Justices of the
Beace, and a Burgess of this Borough, to be
Mayor for the coming year."
Mr. Councillor Ridley seconded this Resolu-
66 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OE READING.
Hon. Other Members of the Council having
supported it, the 'Resolution was put to the vote
and carried.
The newly elected Mayor, having put on his
robes of office, was then escorted to the chair,
and invested loith the golden chain of office.
He then took the oath of Mayor, and received
from the ex-Mayor the mace.
Such is the way in which the first citizen and
chief magistrate of the borough of Reading is
now elected. His office is not only one of
dignity and power, hut it is very ancient.
Each new Mayor of Reading succeeds to a
charge which has been held during hundreds
of years by the leading men of the town.
The office of Mayor, as we know it to-day,
has grown out of the old office of the Custos,
Warden, or Keeper of the Gild Merchant of
Reading.
X
FAMOUS SCENES AND EVENTS AT
READING ABBEY.
The Abbot of Reading was a great personage.
He was a farmer of broad lands. His Abbey
owned estates in eight shires besides Berk-
shire. He dealt ont justice in the King's
name. He sat in Parliament as a peer of the
realm. He coined money. Erom some taxes
his goods were free. He corresponded with
bishops and abbots both in England and
abroad. He enjoyed a princely revenue.
He appointed the parish priests of many
churches. Several country mansions were
kept up for his use. He was waited upon
by forty servants.
So great a man, living in so splendid an
habitation, and in a town through which
so many people had occasion to pass when
travelling about the country, was sure to have
many visitors. The hospitality of Reading
Abbey was famous, and during all its long
68 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
history the Abbey was the resort of kings and
nobles. Several times councils and parlia-
ments met in its spacious chapter house.
Indeed, so frequent were these visits, and so
rich was the entertainment, that there is little
doubt that they were among the causes why
the Abbey at one time became heavily in
debt, and was obliged to borrow money from
Italian bankers.
Almost all the kings of England from
William Rufus to Henry VIII. visited
Reading Abbey. How many times have their
cavalcades passed through the Market Place,
and through Compter gate ! Let us try to
recall a few of these scenes.
The builders were still busy with the church
when a solemn event deepened all men's
interest in the new Abbey. In 1135 King
Henry I., the founder of the Abbey, died in
Normandy. The wish of the King was that
he might be buried in his own Abbey at
Reading. His body was therefore embalmed
and wrapped in bulls' hides. From Normandy
it was borne by slow stages to Reading, and
there, before the high altar of his still un-
finished church, it was buried. Adeliza, his
widow, gave money to the Abbey in order
that a lamp might for ever be kept burning
SCENES AND EVENTS AT READING ABBEY. 69
before the King's tomb. Thus Reading
became the burial-place of a great King.
*****
In 1163 a notable duel took place at Reading.
Some years before, when King Henry II. was
fighting the Welsh, part of his army fell into a
panic because, it was said, Henry of Essex, the
King's standard-bearer, dropped the standard
and cried out falsely that the King had been
slain. If he did this, it was a coAvard's act ;
and Robert of Montfort, his kinsman, declared
that he did do it, and was both coward and
traitor. Essex denied these charges, so the
King said that they must fight it out and
settle who was right by single combat,
And the King directed that the fight should
take place at Reading, on the island in the
river Thames below Gaversham Bridge.
Here, then, one day in April, 1163, a great
concourse of people assembled. The King
himself was there, and with him many of his
nobles. Essex and Montfort were ferried
over to the island, and were bidden to fight
out their quarrel. Let God judge between
them ! After a furious fight, during which
Robert of Montfort " thundered on him man-
fully with hard and frequent strokes," Henry
of Essex fell, wounded, as was thought, to
death. The King turned to the monks of
70 THE STOKY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Reading, and bade them carry away the body
of the traitor and bury it. But the monks
found that Henry of Essex was not dead.
Under their care he at length recovered from
his wounds. Yet because he was now held to
be a coward and a traitor to the King his
estates were taken from him. Nor could he
bear the gaze of men for shame. And so
he staved on with the kindlv monks, and
became a monk himself. Thus he who had
been the standard-bearer of Henry Plantagenet
passed from the eyes of the world, and ended
his life a forgotten monk within the walls
of Reading Abbey. In after days Henry of
Essex used to say that he had been defeated
because, at the height of the combat, the
figures of St. Edmund the Martyr, and of a
certain knight, both of whom he had formerly
wronged, appeared to frown upon him in a
terrifying manner " on the border of the land
and the water."
Only a year after this incident another
gathering took place at Reading. The occasion
was the hallowing or consecration of the
Abbey church by the Archbishop of Canter-
bury, Thomas Becket. Once more King
Henry II. journeyed to Reading, and with
him a throng of warlike nobles. Because of
SCENES AND EVENTS AT READING ABBEY. 71
the presence of the Archbishop, and because
of the religious ceremony to be held, there
came no fewer than ten bishops as well.
Surely on that April Sunday, in 1164, there
was a scene at Heading long to be remembered.
With what eagerness must the visitors have
beheld the new church in all the purity of
its white stone ; the processions of bishops,
priests, and monks ; the gifts offered to
the church ; the solemn hallowing by the
Archbishop.
But chiefly men's eyes sought out Henry,
the King, and Thomas, the Archbishop. Once
these two had been as David and Jonathan.
Alike in work and in pleasure, the son of
Geoffrey of Anjou and the son of the Cheap -
side merchant had been as brothers together.
Henry had not worn his crown long before
he raised the witty and clever clerk, with
pale dark features and bright eyes, to be his
Chancellor ; and now he had raised him higher
still, to the Primacy of England. Yet all
men knew that things were now not well with
Henrv and Thomas,- — that their old comrade-
ship had turned to distrust and hate. Henry's
stormy temper and masterful will were
matched by Becket's proud resistance. On
that day at Beading none indeed could foresee
that the direful ending of this quarrel would
72 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
be an Archbishop cruelly murdered and a
King shamed ; but the quarrel of two such
antagonists must have set many talking and
watching. Not one, save Becket alone, in all
that throng of the great and powerful but
stood in awe of the King. There sat Henry,
twitching the short cape at which the long-
robed courtiers mocked, and fidgetting with
his coarse, restless hands. Truly he was no
darling for silken bowers. Wind and rain
and sun, and a thousand journeyings by land
and sea, had roughened his cheeks ; much
riding to and fro through his far- stretching
dominions had bowed his legs ; his bullet
head bristled with red hair ; his frame was
thick-set and burly ; his eyes glowed with
dangerous fires. Good he was not; gentle
and gracious he was not ; yet such a man has
his place in the world, and mighty indeed
was this man's work. He broke men and
kingdoms to his own far purposes ; and with
blow upon blow, and lesson upon lesson, he
taught undisciplined England the stern truth
that only by the path of law and order could
she attain to greatness. For mastery is won
through discipline and obedience.
* # * * *
In 1185 Henry II. was again at Reading
Abbey. He came to hear the petition of
SCENES AND EVENTS AT READING ABBEY. 73
Heraclius, the Patriarch of Jerusalem. You
will remember that the Christian peoples of
Europe were at this time very eager to pre-
vent the holy sepulchre at Jerusalem, and
indeed the holy land itself, from falling into
the hands of those who were the enemies of
the Christian faith. Heraclius came to Read-
ing in order to beg the King to interest
himself in the Third Crusade, which was then
going forward. Heraclius spoke long and
eloquently, and he ended his appeal by
placing in the King's hands the keys of the
holy sepulchre and the holy city. It is
said that he moved the King and all who
heard him to tears. But Henry was a cautious
as well as a fiery ruler. The tears might
run down his cheeks, but they did not mean
that he would agree to do anything rash or
foolish. He was not at all eager to spend his
money and strength in this costly and perilous
enterprise. At last he gave this answer. If,
said he, he were to go, as he was asked, to
Jerusalem, it would, of course, mean that he
must leave England, and, moreover, leave it
exposed to the attacks of its hostile neigh-
bours. Now he felt sure, he continued, that
his own kingdom of England was as pleasing
to God and as devout as Jerusalem itself.
It could not, therefore, be pleasing to God for
74 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
him to abandon England to ruin even for the
sake of Jerusalem, and so he could not consent
to the request of the Patriarch.
Heraclius, therefore, went away disap-
pointed. Two years later Jerusalem fell into
the hands of Saladin, the leader of the
infidels.
# * * * *
In 1219 died the greatest man in the realm.
This was William Marshal, Earl of Pem-
broke, the wise and strong regent who ruled
England during the first three years of the
boy-King, Henry III. William Marshal had
a castle at Caversham, and it was there that
he died. His body was borne by the monks
of Reading Abbey from the castle to the
Abbey church, and a solemn service was held
in its honour. Thence the body was carried
to London for burial. It may have been
William Marshal who built the first bridge
at Caversham.
* # * -;'«»• #
In 1227 King Henry III., then a very
young man, came to Reading to spend his
Christmas. Christmas was one of the three
occasions, the other tAvo being Easter and
Pentecost, when the King of England used
to wear his crown in public and show himself
to the people. Henry HI- in 1227 chose to
SCENES AND EVENTS AT READING ABBEY. 75
do this at Reading. We are told that the
Abbey was the scene of great festivities in
his honour. This Henry was very fond of
splendid show. He was, indeed, the first King
of England after the Norman Conquest who
was at all particular about his clothes.
* * # * *
In 1346 Edward III., the warlike King
whose gallant archers and men-at-arms won
the renowned victories of Crecy and Poictiers,
visited Heading. Edward III. was fond of
the pageants of chivalry and above all of
tournaments, or joustings. A tournament
was a combat between two knights, or parties
of knights, in armour. They fought some-
times on horseback and sometimes on foot.
The fighting took place in what were
called lists. A large space was marked
out on a level meadow, and tents and
pavilions were erected around it for the
spectators. The knights on horseback charged
one another with levelled lances, riding at
full speed, and meeting in the midst of the
lists with a shock. Courtiers and ladies were
among the spectators, and the knights were
eager to win their applause. The King
watched the tournament from a high seat
or throne, and when he pleased he could
stop the fight by throwing down his staff.
7G THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
These tournaments were very dangerous, and
men were often killed in them. Sir Walter
Scott has finely described a tournament for
us in his romance of Ivanhoe.
In such chivalrous sports Edward passed
his time at Reading in 1346. Before he went
away he borrowed some money from the
Abbey in order to carry on the war with
France. It is interesting to remember that
immediately after he left Reading he crossed
over to France and won the great battle of
Crecy. Some years later King Edward III.
came to Heading again in order to be present
at the marriage of his son, John of Gaunt.
The marriage took place in the Abbey church.
Again there was a splendid pageant and more
tournaments. We read that the King, and
his four sons, and nineteen knights entered
the lists, and that the tournaments lasted for
two weeks.
* # # * #
Perhaps the most famous incidents in the
history of the Abbey were the councils and
parliaments held there from time to time.
On several occasions councils of bishops and
abbots were held at Reading. Sometimes the
King would call his chief nobles to Reading,
and take counsel with them. Once, in 1229,
the courts of law, usually held at West-
SCENES AND EVENTS AT READING ABBEY. 77
minster, were held at Heading. Above all,
seven times during the fifteenth century the
Parliament of England assembled at Reading,
and held its session in one of the halls of the
Abbey, either in the refectory or in the
chapter house. We read that "in a certain
apartment within the Abbey prepared for the
purpose, the King being seated on a throne,
the three estates were in full Parliament
assembled." Nothing shows us more clearly
the national importance of the Abbey, the
splendid accommodation of its buildings, and
the convenient and central situation of
Heading, than this fact that Parliament itself
should so often have been summoned to sit
at Reading.
* # # # #
These, then, are a few of the famous scenes
and incidents in the life of the Abbey. There
are many others that have been recorded,
and probably more that have been forgotten.
For more than four hundred years the town
of Reading was known and honoured, not
only throughout England but throughout
Christendom, because of its Abbey ; and there
can be no doubt that the presence of the
Abbey was one of the chief causes that the
town of Reading during this period attained
prosperity and importance.
XI.
THE LONG QUARREL BETWEEN THE GILD
MERCHANT AND THE ABBEY.
When King Henry I. founded the Abbey he
gave to the Abbey " Reading itself." He
also gave the Abbot power over the people of
Reading. In many ways the Abbot was
master of the town. This did not prove
pleasing to the townsmen. A stubborn quarrel
arose between them and the Abbots. This
quarrel we must now consider.
In the vear 1253 the " men of Reading "
were called before the King's judges. The
men of Reading, said the Abbot, had been
behaving badly. With arms in their hands
they had lain in wait by day and by night for
his servants, and had pounced out upon them
and beaten them. This was bad, but this
was not all. The burgesses were going about
saying that they were not so much in the
Abbot's power as he supposed, and that they
could make their words good in a court of law.
How the men of Reading excused themselves
QUARREL BETWEEN GILD AND ABBEY. 79
for beating the Abbot's servants we do not
know. But we know that they tried to prove
to the judges that their Gild was older than
the Abbey ; and that the Abbot had been
trampling upon its ancient rights. But, said
the judges, the men of Blading could not
make their words good. They could show no
charters or legal writings to prove what they
said. Indeed, if they and their Gild had any
rights at all they owed them to the kindness
of the Abbot. So the men of Beading were
sent about their business, and the King
despatched a letter to the Sheriff of Berkshire
telling him to see that they behaved them-
selves better in future.
The burgesses, therefore, got the worst of
it. They went home feeling that they would
always get the worst of it in these quarrels,
unless their Gild had a charter from the King.
Very soon they went to the King, most likely
with handsome gifts in their hands, and they
persuaded him to give them a charter of
privileges. Armed with this, they went to
the Abbot ; and they made an agreement
with the Abbot which the King's judges
accepted as fair and wise. Thus cleverly the
burgesses regained lost ground.
This agreement of 1254 first of all tells
how the burgesses had complained that the
80 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Abbot had robbed them of their Gild Hall ;
that he had shifted the town market from its
old place ; and that he had made demands
upon them which he had no right to make.
Next it tells us what the Abbot was willing
to do to heal these grievances. He would
agree to restore the market to its old place ;
he would yield up the Gild Hall ; and the
burgesses might have their Gild for evermore.
Lastly, the burgesses agreed that every year,
on the feast of St. Michael, the Abbot should
receive from them a noble (6s. 8d.) as rent
for a certain field. Every year he should
choose one of the burgesses to act as Warden,
or Custos, of the Gild. Whenever a new
burgess was admitted to the Gild he should
pay a fee of four shillings to the Abbot.
Every year, on the feast of St. Peter ad
Yincula (August 1st), every burgess of the
Gild should pay five pennies to the Abbot
as the cost of licence to buy and sell in
Reading. Then come some other rules securing
to the Abbot his powers of justice over
Reading and other privileges. The agree-
ment was known as the Final and Endly
Concord, because it was hoped that it would
settle once and and for all the quarrels
of Abbot and Gild. But it did no such
thing.
QUARREL BETWEEN GILD AND ABBEY. 81
For nearly three hundred years, from the
agreement of 1254 to the fall of the Abbey in
1539, the Gild and the Abbots were hardly
ever at peace. Sometimes they wrangled
about the appointment of Constables ; at
other times about the sum each ought to pay
towards the King's taxes ; at other times
about the profits of a slaughter-house, or the
use of a mace, or the appointment of the
Mayor. The particular dispute mattered
little. The point all the time was, who should
be master of Reading.
In the fifteenth century Reading became
far richer than it had ever been before. This
was the age when the cloth trade was growing
so fast. This wealth put new heart into
the burgesses and they grew much bolder.
Year after year disputing went on. One of
the Abbots dared to say that the Gild was
just a sort of casual club, and that it had no
right to hold property at all. The burgesses
fired up at this, and replied with might and
main. They appointed committees to prepare
their case and to meet the Abbot and his
lawyers. They ransacked their ancient
chests in the Gild Hall for documents which
should prove how old and worthy a body
their Gild was. They went riding to Canter-
bury and to London about this business.
6
82 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
They paid money to famous lawyers so that
nothing might he lacking to secure them
the victory. They got a fund of money
together to pay for a new charter from the
King. Many a secret conference about these
things was held in the old Gild Hall.
In 1458 the burgesses were in such good
heart that they ventured a daring stroke.
They paid Richard the goldsmith the sum of
4iS. 4id. for a mace. This mace was to make
plain to all beholders the honour and dignity
of the Mayor and of the Gild. It was to be
carried in a stately way before the Mayor,
and it was to lie in front of him at meetings
in the Gild Hall. Now a mace, which, like
the King's sceptre, is in its origin nothing
more than a staff or stick, has always been
regarded as a symbol of power and authority.
It was not likely, therefore, that the Abbot
of Heading would be at all pleased to see the
Mayor going about with a mace. He at once
wrote an angry letter to the King; and the
King listened to what the Abbot said, and
sent a letter forbidding the Mayor to use a
mace. For the next thirty years, therefore,
the burgesses had to be content to do without
a mace, and to use instead two tipped staves.
These staves, moreover, were to be carried,
not by their own sergeants -at-mace, but by
QUARREL BETWEEN GILD AND ABBEY. 83
servants of the Abbot. This was a stinging
humiliation, and the burgesses loved the Abbot
less than ever.
At last, however, in 1487, the Gild secured
a new charter. Henry VII. was now King,
and was more favourable to the burgesses.
They were now allowed to have a mace, and
the King also conferred upon them even more
valuable privileges. Yet the disputings Avith
the Abbot continued. So sharp became the
quarrel that, in 1492, the Abbot refused to
appoint a Mayor. For seven years he hardened
his heart against the burgesses. What were
they to do now ? They could not carry on
their business without a Mayor. The Mayor
was to the Gild what the keystone is to the
arch. Without a Mayor all their affairs must
be in confusion. At length they decided to
appoint a Mayor themselves, and they solemnly
undertook to render to the Master of the Gild,
thus appointed, the same obedience and loyalty
that they had been accustomed to render to
the Mayor, chosen in the old way by the
Abbot. So, though the Abbot remained
stubborn for seven years, things went on
otherwise much as before. Finally, in 1507,
it was agreed that this old, weary dispute,
which for three centuries had been now
smouldering and now blazing, should be
84 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
referred to two of the King's judges for settle-
ment. Their settlement took the form of a
Decree.
By this Decree of 1507 the Ahhot secured
most of the rights which he had ever held
over the Gild Merchant of Reading. He was
still, to a very great extent, to he master of
the town, although Heading was now a much
more important town than in the old days,
and although the King had repeatedly given,
by charter, rights and privileges to the Gild
Merchant. We cannot suppose that the Gild
Merchant, Avhich had been fighting this battle
so stubbornly for more than three centuries,
would have been likely to accept for long a
settlement which fastened upon the burgesses
so many of their old fetters. Eut only a few
years after the Decree of 1507 the Abbey of
Reading came suddenly to an end. When we
hear the story of this ending we shall see that
there was no great protest made by the people
of Reading on behalf of the Abbey. We can-
not doubt that when the people remembered
this long quarrel with the Abbey, they were
not particularly sorry to think that in future
there would be no Abbey to trouble them,
however sorry they might be for the fate of
the last Abbot.
In 1542 the burgesses of Reading won from
QUARREL BETWEEN GILD AND* ABBEY. 85
King Henry VIII. a most important charter,
which was the beginning of a new chapter in
the town history. After this time the Gild
Merchant of Reading seems to vanish away,
and to be transformed into the new and power-
ful Corporation of Reading, recognised by the
charter of 1542. The King also gave to the
burgesses a new Gild Hall. He granted them
the sole right of electing their Mayor, and
he ordered that the Mayor of Reading should
have the authority of a justice of the peace —
that is, of a magistrate.
So ended the long wrangle between the
Abbey of Reading and the Gild Merchant of
the burgesses. It all seems very far away
now, and the matters in dispute have little
interest for most people in these days. Yet
let us be mindful how ancient a body the
Corporation of Reading is — how hard it had
to fight for its first liberties, and even for
leave to exist at all.
XII.
A PARISH CHURCH IN THE OLDEN TIME.
Hard by the Compter gate stood the church
of St. Lawrence. The church formed part of
the Abbey boundary, and if you have seen
how the church of St. Margaret, at West-
minster, seems to nestle beneath the shadow
of the towering Abbey by its side, you will have
some notion how r the church of St. Lawrence
used to look before the Abbey of Reading was
destroved.
Between 1400 and 1540 the parishioners of
St. Lawrence did all they could to improve
their church and to make it beautiful. They
rebuilt much of it. In 1458 the tower took
the form it still has, and about this time the
number of bells was increased from three to
five. " Harry," the biggest bell, weighed
thirty-six hundredweight, and was given by
a rich clothier. New organs, new windows,
new seats, a new font, a new roof, and a new
clock were also provided. The old clock was
a curious one ; it had a Jack, or figure of a
A PARISH CHUKOH IN THE OLDEN TIME. 87
man, which sounded the hours by striking a
bell with a hammer. Much gilding and
painting was done, and the churchyard was
enlarged. The cost of these works was borne
by the people of the parish. Lists of their
gifts, many of them the small gifts of poor
people, still remain. The larger gifts usually
came from the wealthier clothiers.
English churches have changed so much
in appearance, and in the purposes which they
serve, since those days, that it is not easy to
recall what this fine old church of St. Lawrence
was then like, and what it meant in the life of
the people. The walls within were rich with
paintings and tapestries depicting scenes from
the Bible and the story of Christianity. The
columns and arches which supported the roof
were brightly coloured, and the timbers of
the roof shone with paint and gold. As many
as twelve altars stood about the church in
honour of different saints. One of these was
the altar of St. Blaise, patron saint of wool
merchants, then so numerous in Heading.
Another was the altar of St. Clement, patron
saint of smiths ; his pincers, hatchet, and
sword were represented. Then there was an
image of St. George, patron saint of England,
armed with sword and dagger, and bestriding
a steed coated with horse-skin. Upon the floor
88 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
of the church gleamed figured and lettered
hrasses in memory of the dead. In all parts
of the church the brightness of colour and
of gold caught the eye. The windows were of
painted glass, and the church was divided
into two parts by a carved screen and the
rood loft. In the vestry was kept securely in
chests a rich treasure of silver plate, hooks,
banners, and vestments.
The people of those days delighted in shows
and pageantry, and in their opinion the parish
church was the place for these things. Perhaps
we should remember that there were then no
theatres, concerts, lectures, clubs, or libraries.
It was to the church that men went, not only
to worship and to be serious, but to make
merry and to rejoice in splendid pageants.
There was hardly a week in the year without
its feast or ceremony in the parish church.
These bygone ceremonies and customs can-
not all be described, but a little may be said
about a few of them. Easter Monday and
Easter Tuesday were called " Hock Tide." On
Monday men went through the streets carrying
a rope, with which they entangled any one
who met them ; and these captives were
not released until they had paid the men
money. On Tuesday, women took the rope,
and they always managed to gain more money
A PARISH CHURCH IN THE OLDEN TIME. 89
than the men. The profits of Hock Tide were
devoted to the church. Soon after Easter
came May Day, when great feastings were
held. It was the custom to perform a play.
One of these plays was called the May Play
or Robin Hood, and another was called the
King Play. The first was a representation of
the story of Robin Hood, Maid Marian, Friar
Tuck, and Little John. The second was an
acting of the story of the Wise Men from the
East, the three kings who, according to an old
legend, were said to have been buried at
Cologne. The May Day merrymakings began
early. At daybreak " young folks and
maidens," some carrying banners, went forth
to the woods to cut down a "summer pole."
This pole they brought home in triumph, and
set it up in the Market Place, or at the door
of the church. Stands were erected at the
church porch for the older spectators, who
wore ribands and badges. Minstrels played
harps and other instruments, and morris
dancers in coats of painted buckram, hung
with jingling bells, danced to the merry music.
Then came the plays. Later in the day a
feast was held in the church.
On Corpus Christi Day — the Thursday after
Trinity Sunday — the bells rang a peal, and a
procession with banners went about the streets.
90 THE STOHY OF THE TOWN OF HEADING.
A third play was then performed. On this
occasion a stage was erected in the Forbury,
and decked with green boughs. Among the
characters in the play were usually Adam and
Eve. The lights for this play were provided
by the tailors and shoemakers of the parish.
Sometimes, as at Whitsuntide, gatherings
called church ales were held. The church
was well cleaned, plenty of pasties and other
food was prepared, a musician was hired, and
then the parishioners assembled inside the
church and feasted together. Profits arising
from these gatherings were handed to the
churchwardens .
Many old ceremonies and customs were
then observed which have since been abolished
or forgotten. For instance, the bells of the
church had godfathers and godmothers. These
customs had grown up in the course of ages,
and, though some of them may now seem
superstitious and wrong, yet the people of
those days liked them and put faith in them.
Prosperous parishioners gave freely of their
wealth in order to add to the splendour of the
church and its services, or to its furniture.
For example, one gave to the church a ship of
silver and two silver candlesticks. Another
srave monev for a bell. Another °'ave two
service books with covers of carved and gilded
A PARISH CHURCH IN THE OLDEN TIME. 91
silver. A builder gave the church a ladder.
Eew churches in England were richer in
treasure. It was in this way that the church
encouraged skilled handicrafts. The churches
of Reading employed builders, bell-founders,
tapestry weavers, embroiderers, mural painters,
carvers in wood, stone, and metal, and painters
on glass. The carving in St. Lawrence's
church was the work of a Reading carver.
The stained sdass in the chancel was the work
of a Heading man. The wall painting of St.
Christopher, and the gilding in the church,
and many other beautiful things were exe-
cuted by Reading craftsmen. The bells made
at Reading were noted throughout this part
of England. In Berkshire, Oxfordshire, and
Buckinghamshire, and even in districts more
remote, the bells of churches were often
procured from the foundries at Reading.
XIII.
HOW THE FREE SCHOOL WAS FOUNDED,
In 1453 Constantinople, so long the capital
city of the Eastern Empire, was captured by
the Turks. The Turks were ruthless bar-
barians, and the Greek scholars who had lived
in Constantinople now fled from the city.
They fled westward, and chiefly to the cities
of Italy, for so many ages the home of
scholarship and the nobler arts. They brought
with them much learning and knowledge,
and many books which were new to western
Europe. Erom Italy this new knowledge
gradually passed to countries further west
and north, and at length to England. So
began the great movement called the Revival
of Learning. It stirred the nations as the
wind stirs the leaves and branches of a forest.
Life of the mind came where there had been
death, and energy where there had been stag-
nation. The invention of the printing press
carried the new knowledge far and wide, and
with this new movement, the Revival of
92
HOW THE FREE SCHOOL WAS FOUNDED. 93
Learning, we seem to enter upon a new age
in the world's history. We leave what is
often called the Middle Age, and enter upon
the Modern Age, to which we ourselves
belong.
We should not expect to see many signs of
the beginning of such a movement in so small
a town as Reading ; but there happen to
be two such signs, both of them of interest.
We find that one of the exiled scholars of
the East took refuge in Reading Abbey,
and was living there in 1499. He bore a
Greek name, Serbopoulos, and he seems to
have spent his time in the Abbey copying
Greek manuscripts and writing Greek books.
The other sign in Reading of the Revival of
Learning is the founding of the Eree School,
sometimes called the Grammar School, and
now known as Reading School.
One day in 1486 King Henry VII. was
passing through Reading. He happened to
notice the old Hospital of St. John, which
stood upon the site of the present municipal
buildings, and he noticed that this Hospital
seemed deserted. Upon inquiry he was told
that one of the Abbots had closed the Hospital
some years before. The Abbot had told his
neighbours that he thought of making this
old house into a free school. This was a
94 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
capital idea, but unfortunately all that the
Abbot had done so far had been to use the
income of the Hospital for his own purposes.
King Henry now urged the Abbot to establish
the school without further delay, and he
promised himself to contribute £10 a year out
of his own property at Reading towards its
support. At the same time, a rich servant
of the Abbey offered to give the sum of two
hundred marks for the establishment of the
school. So the school was started. In 1560
Queen Elizabeth handed over to the Corpora-
tion the Crown property in Heading, and she
also gave them the right of aj^pointing the
master of the school, provided that they paid
his yearly salary of £10. In the charter
which she granted to the town in that year
it is stated that the purpose of the school is
" to educate the boys of the inhabitants of the
borough, and others, in literature."
It would seem that the school was first
established in the old guest hall of St. John's
Hospital. About 1578 the upper part of this
hall was made into a Town Hall, and the
school had to be content with the lower
portion. Except for an interval during the
siege of Reading in 1643, when the school-
house was used as a magazine for arms, the
school stayed in this ancient building until it
HOW THE FREE SCHOOL WAS FOUNDED. 95
was pulled down in 1786. In this old school-
room was a picture of King Henry VII., who
had so large a share in its foundation ; and
there was a collection of books of which,
according to old fashion, the most valuable
were fastened to the shelves by chains.
The school was intended, as we have seen,
chiefly for the boys of the burgesses of
Reading. It Avas usually called the Free
School, and for two hundred years the
schooling was either free or the fees did not
exceed more than about two shillings and
sixpence a quarter. Small as it was, the
School produced not a few noted men.
Thomas White, son of a Heading clothier,
was one of these. He became Lord Mayor
of London, and was knighted by Queen Mary
for his services in putting down a dangerous
rebellion. At Oxford he is honoured as the
founder of St. John's College. He provided
two scholarships at this college to be held by
boys from his old school at Heading. Another
famous man who received his education at
the Free School was William Laud, also the
son of a Reading clothier. William Laud
rose to be Archbishop of Canterbury. Among
other noted Free School boys were John
Blagrave, well known for his books on mathe-
matics ; and Thomas Turner and William
96 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Creed, both sons of Reading burgesses. Turner
became Dean of Canterbury, and his son was
one of the famous seven bishops who pro-
tested against the misgovernment of King
James II. in 1688; Creed became King's
Professor of Divinity in the University of
Oxford. By the seventeenth century the
school had a very good name. " Divers good
scholars have been bred there," wrote one of
the secretaries of state under King Charles I.;
"very able men," added Archbishop Laud,
"to do God, the King, and the Church
service."
Let us see how in these early days a scholar
was chosen to receive one of Sir Thomas
White's scholarships to be held at St. John's
College, Oxford. When one of the scholar-
ships fell vacant it was the duty of the Presi-
dent of the College, within forty days, to write
to the Mayor and aldermen of Reading. The
Mayor and aldermen had then to choose a boy
"fit to undertake the study of logic " in the
university of Oxford. For example, in 1610,
members of the Town Council, accompanied
by the vicar of St. Lawrence's church and
the schoolmaster, and " others intelligent and
judicious," went into the Free School to choose
the fittest scholar. On this occasion Thomas
Turner proved to be the best boy, and there-
HOW THE FREE SCHOOL WAS FOUNDED. 97
fore his name was sent up to St. John's
College. As we have already heard, this
Thomas Turner became a distinguished
man.
The Corporation took a deep interest in their
school. Often they helped poor scholars to
proceed from it to the University, or sent them
timely presents of money. For example, one
scholar at Oxford, born of poor parents in
Reading, received £3 to enable him to take
his degree of bachelor of arts, and also to buy
a new suit of clothes in which to attend the
public ceremony at which the degrees were
conferred.
XIY.
THE FALL OF THE ABBEY AND THE
FRIARY.
At last the time came when the end of the
Abbey was at hand. The overthrow of Reading
Abbey was part of one of the greatest changes
or revolutions that have ever happened in
England. It belongs to the religious upheavals
which together make up what we call the
Protestant Reformation. Between 1520 and
1540, during the reign of King Henry VIII .>
all the abbeys and monasteries in England
were abolished. The greater abbeys were
the last to fall. Reading Abbey survived
until 1539.
If you ask why the monasteries, which for
centuries had lived their life in peace, were
now swept away it is not easy to answer in
a few words. And whatever answer we make,
some people would be sure not to agree with
it. On the whole it seems true to say that
the chief reasons were these two. Eirst, the
monasteries were no longer so useful or
FALL OF THE ABBEY AND THE FRIARY. 99
deserving of admiration as they had heen.
Secondly, they were very rich, and Henry
VIII. not only had a grudge against them,
but also coveted their riches. So also did
many of his courtiers, who hoped that if
their vast estates were taken from the monks,
they themselves would have a share in the
spoil.
Let us consider these two reasons a little
further.
In an earlier chapter it was said that the
monks did a noble work for England in pre-
serving and upholding learning, and also in
bringing waste land into cultivation. There
can be no doubt that such services were in
early times a precious boon to England. But
times had now changed. A new England was
arising, and to this new England, for worse or
better, monasteries and monks did not seem
so needful. Take the case of learning. In
the fifteenth century the printing press was
invented, and thus books became much cheaper
and more plentiful. Again, Oxford and Cam-
bridge had now become the great seats of
learning, and new schools were also arising.
The monasteries were no longer the only
homes of learning, and therefore they no
longer served the cause of knowledge and
scholarship so greatly. Again, most of their
100 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
great work in reclaiming waste lands had
been clone. Moreover, we mnst bear in mind
that in the fifteenth century a spirit of worlclli-
ness became far too prevalent among the
clergy, whether priests or monks. The great
movement which we call the Reformation of
religion was a protest against this loss of high
standards, as Avell as against practices and
teaching which many had now come to dislike
as superstitious and wrong.
As for King Henry VIII., he had a quarrel
of his own with the Pope of Rome, at that
time revered by almost all as the head of
Christendom. You will remember that Henry
defied the Pope in marrying Anne Boleyn.
The Pope replied by doing everything he could
to punish Henry, and so a fierce quarrel arose
between them. One result of this was that
Henry was eager to attack all those who in
this quarrel sided with the Pope against him-
self. Among such persons were the monks,
and the wrathful King was quick to see what
a terrible blow he could deal against the
Pope, and those who sided with the Pope, if
he were to destroy the monasteries in England.
And the King and Thomas Cromwell, his
crafty minister, also saw what enormous
wealth could be put into the royal pockets,
and into the pockets of the King's friends, if
FALL OF THE ABBEY AND THE FRIARY. 101
the lands and goods of the monks were seized.
It so happened, as you will remember, that
Henry VIII. was able to do almost anything
he liked. He was a masterful and cunning
ruler, and men feared his savage temper. In
his times Parliament, which so often before
and after the days of Henry controlled or
checked the King, was very weak and servile.
And so the blows fell one after another upon
the monasteries. First in 1523, then in 1536,
and then again in 1539, the King was able to
secure the consent of Parliament to his attacks
upon the monasteries. Altogether there were
between six hundred and seven hundred of
them, containing about eight thousand monks
and nuns. They were immensely rich, and
the principal landlords. It is not easy for
people living now to understand how powerful
the monasteries were. A single abbey, for
example, sent 1,200 men to fight against the
Scots at Plodden Eield. At that date there
were only eighty-four members of the House
of Lords, and of these, twenty-six were abbots
of monasteries. In every shire the magnifi-
cent buildings of the monks were conspicuous.
So powerful were the monasteries, that the
King dared not attack them without some
kind of proof that their affairs were badly
conducted. He therefore sent out commis-
102 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF BEADING.
sloners, who visited the abbeys and monasteries
and reported to Thomas Cromwell what they
professed to have seen and heard. These men
were liars, and few of the things they said are
to be believed. There is, indeed, no doubt
that some monasteries were badly managed,
and that some of the monks were corrupt and
idle ; but we now know that most of the
charges of this kind made against the monas-
teries were either untrue or much exaggerated.
In the case of Reading Abbey it so happened
that the commissioners reported nothing evil.
If we may believe what they said of it, the
state of the Abbey was neither very bad nor
very good. That, however, did not save the
Abbey from destruction. In the autumn of
the year 1538 the King's commissioners were
busy in Reading making lists of the treasures
belonging to the Abbey and locking up the
most precious. In 1539 Parliament declared
I hat if the head of a monastery should be
j)ronounced guilty of treason, his monastery
and its property should be handed over to the
Crown. A few months later the last of the
great abbeys, including Reading, thus fell
victims to the King. The monks of Reading
were turned out upon the streets. Greedy
courtiers begged Thomas Cromwell to give
them a share of the spoil. One courtier
FALL OF THE ABBEY AND THE FRIARY. 103
sought to win his favour by sending him a
diamond ring. At Christmas, 1539, the solemn
Abbey was desolate and empty, except for
plunderers who were busy stripping it bare.
Upon a gibbet at Compter gate hung the
body of the last Abbot in chains. Sad indeed
was the end of the Abbey which the first King
Henry had loved so well. About the same
time the Grey Eriars were turned out of the
Eriary. The people of Reading raised no
protest against these violent changes. Indeed,
some of them stole things from the empty
Eriary, even the clappers from the bells.
However much we may feel that the time
had come when a great reform of the monas-
teries was necessarv, and even if we feel that
it had become necessary to end them alto-
gether, we cannot help also feeling disgust
and indignation at the lies and cruelty, greed
and wrong, which disgraced the measures
taken against them by Henry and Cromwell.
XV.
HOW THE LAST ABBOT DIED FOR THE
OLD FAITH.
Hugh Cook Farringdon, thirty-first and
last Abbot of Reading, is said to have been
the son of poor parents. He was appointed
Abbot in 1520. He himself tells us that he
was not a learned man, and though he lived
in times when the minds of most men were
deeply stirred by the inrush of new knowledge
he seems to have cared but little for such
matters. He liked to live quietly and to
go his way without vexing himself about
new opinions. Yet he had plenty of sense
and character. He kept his monks in good
order, and no charge of misbehaviour was
ever proved against him, even by his enemies.
He was kind to his mother, and very willing
to help poor scholars. He tells us that he
liked good wine " red and claret," and that
he was fond of herrings. The King's com-
missioners, who looked into the affairs of the
Abbey, could not deny that he went every
HOW THE LAST ABBOT DIED. 105
day to service in his church. He seems to
have been a man of homely ways, fond of
gossip and company. He was on good terms
with King Henry VIII. At new year they
sent one another gifts. Henry sometimes
stayed with the Abbot, and sometimes took
him out hunting. He used to call him " his
own Abbot."
It was hard that this good, easy man should
have to face the dangerous times through
which England passed soon after 1520. Even
his friendship with Henry could not save him
from the storm that now began to break.
That storm began when the King, in defiance
of the Pope's wishes, resolved to divorce his
wife, Katharine of Aragon, and to marry
Anne Boleyn instead. At first, indeed, the
Abbot seemed unwilling to blame Henry for
his action in this matter. He also assented
to many of the changes in the religious life
of England which Henry now forced upon
the people as a result of his quarrel with
the Pope of Home. The Abbot, indeed, was
by nature not at all obstinate. He would do
much for the sake of peace. The King's
commissioners, who visited Reading Abbey in
1538, reported to the King that the Abbot
was a man not difficult to persuade, and that
he would not be likely to resist the King's
li'G THE STOllY OF THE TOWN OF HEADING.
wish that his Abbey, like the other monasteries
of the realm, should be handed over to the
Crown. It may be thought that the Kin^
and Thomas Cromwell, his minister, would
have been content with such readiness to
meet their grasping demands ; yet in Sep-
tember, 1539, the Abbot was summoned to
London, and thrown into prison in the Tower.
Many false accusations were brought against
him. At last he was required to declare
that the King, and not the Pope, was the
supreme head of the Church. You will
remember that Sir Thomas More, and Bishop
Fisher, and many other good men, could not
conscientiously agree to this royal supremacy.
Nor could the Abbot of Reading, however
easy-going he might be about giving up his
Abbey. Mild and good-natured though he
was, he could not bring himself to deny what
he had always believed to be true ; and
therefore he could not consent to say that
King Henry VIII. was the supreme head
of the Church. On the contrary, he boldly
declared that he would pray for the Pope as
long as he lived. Such answers, in the fierce,
unreasoning temper of the time, were taken
as defiance of the King ; and so the Abbot
of Heading found himself charged with high
treason, together with the Abbots of Glaston-
HOW THE LAST ABBOT DIED. lo7
bury and Colchester. The three Abbots seem
to have written to one another when in prison,
and it is said that the letters were carried
from one to another by a blind harper.
At last the Abbot was brought to trial
before some judges at Heading. It was not
really a trial at all. There still exists a
paper with writing on it in the hand of
Thomas Cromwell, to the effect that the
Abbot should be taken to Reading to be tried
and executed. Prom this you can see how
little chance he had of escape. A more
shameful letter was never written by an
English minister.
Two of his monks were tried at the same
time as Abbot Hugh. All three were con-
demned to die. They were condemned to suffer
the disgraceful and terrible death of a traitor.
They were to be publicly hanged, and then
their bodies were to be cut fco pieces. The
execution took place in November, 1539. A
gallows forty feet high had been erected at
the Compter gate. "A great sight of people"
gathered to witness the end. The last words
of the Abbot showed that he was still faithful
to the Pope as the head of Christendom.
* * & & *
England is now a Protestant country. The
English people no longer approve of monks
108 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
and monasteries, and they no longer acknow-
ledge the supremacy of the Pope of Eome.
Yet none of these things should hlind us to
the nohle constancy, even unto death, shown
by the Abbot of Reading, and many others at
that time, to the old religious order. We
honour the Protestant martyrs of Queen
Mary's reign (1553—1558). It is right that
we should also remember that those whom
they opposed could be not less faithful to
what thev held for truth and right.
XVI.
HOW A MASTER OF THE FREE SCHOOL
DIED FOR THE REFORMED FAITH.
About 1555 Jocelin Palmer was appointed
master of the Free School at Reading. He
was the son of a Coventry tradesman, and was
educated at Magdalen College, Oxford, where
he became noted for his skill in Latin and
Greek learning. At this time he was a keen
supporter of the old Catholic order, then being
attacked by Henry VIII. and the Protestant
reformers. So zealous was he in support of
the Catholic side that, during the reign of
King Edward VI. (1547—1553), when the
Protestant reformers had the upper hand, he
was expelled from the College. He then be-
came a tutor in the house of Sir Francis
Knollys, at Reading, and soon afterwards he
obtained the mastership of the Free School.
While in the house of Sir Francis Knollys,
Palmer seems to have been greatly moved by
the heroic deaths of the Protestant martyrs
under the persecutions of Queen Mary's
109
110 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
government. It is said that he was an eve-
witness of the burning of Ridley and Latimer
at Oxford, and was so affected bv their
dreadful fate and their noble courage in
enduring it, as to condemn loudly their per-
secutors. These feelings led him at last to
change his religious opinions, and in the end
he came to feel that he could no longer defend
the old E/oman Catholic faith. Unfortunately
for himself, he allowed others to know of this
change in his opinions. The times were
dangerous, and religious strife was bitter.
When it became known that the master of
the Free School had become a heretic, or
Protestant reformer, the feeling against him
ran so high that he had to leave the town.
He fled in haste, leaving his goods behind
him, and with a quarter's salary still owing
to him. He first went to see his mother, and
by her was severely reproached for changing
his religious opinions. Then he went to
Oxford, and while at Oxford he rashly re-
solved to come back to Reading in order to
recover his property and the arrears of his
salary. In Reading he lodged in an inn
called the " Cardinal's Hat." He wished no
one to know of his return to the town, but his
enemies discovered him ; and one night Palmer
was dragged out of his bed and thrown into
HOW A MASTER OF THE FREE SCHOOL DIED. Ill
a dungeon, where, it is said, he was cruelly
treated. After an examination before the
Mayor of Reading he was sent before the
Queen's commissioners at Newbury. He was
charged with being a heretic, or Protestant
reformer, and there is no doubt that Palmer
could no longer accept the teaching of the old
faith. Many questions were put to him, but
he refused to give up his opinions. He held
fast to that which he believed to be true.
The result was that he was condemned to die.
Together with two others, he was burned at
the stake at Newbury. He was only twenty-
four years old,
XVII.
ROYAL VISITS TO READING IN TUDOR
TIMES.
Although after 1540 there was no longer an
Abbot of Reading, many royal visits to
Reading took place in the sixteenth century.
King Henry VIII. made use of the Abbey
buildings as a palace, and part of the old
Hospital of St. John was used by him and his
successors as stables for the royal horses. In
the time of Elizabeth part of the Abbey was
known as the Queen's House. Meanwhile,
the estates of the monks were given away
to courtiers, and some of the Abbey buildings
were pulled down. Even the bridges and
streets of Reading were repaired with the
stones of Henry's Abbey.
In 1552 the young King Edward VI. came
to Reading. We still have an account,
written down at the time, telling us how he
was received. He was met at Coley Cross by
Thomas Aldworth, the Mayor, and many of
the people of Reading in their best apparel.
112
ROYAL VISITS TO READING IN TUDOR TIMES. 113
As the King rode up, the Mayor on his knees
welcomed him to the town. Then the Mayor
took his mace, and kissed it, and in token of
submission handed it to the King, who gently
put it back into his hand again. The Mayor
then mounted his horse, and rode before the
King through the town, and so led him to the
palace at the Abbey. This was the first time
that Edward VI. had visited Reading, and
the Mayor thought it would be proper to
offer him a present. The present consisted
of two yokes of oxen. They cost £1G, and
were paid for by the burgesses. The Mayor
and burgesses also felt that politeness required
them to present gifts of money to the King's
heralds, his sergeants -at-arms, his trumpeters,
his cup-bearer, his footmen, and the other
officers in waiting on him.
King Edward died the following year. In
July, 1554, Queen Mary and her consort,
Philip II. of Spain, passed through Reading.
They had come from Winchester, where their
marriage had taken place in the cathedral.
The English people were not particularly
pleased about this marriage of their Queen
with a foreign king ; but still the Heading
burgesses behaved to her with loyal courtesy.
Robert Eowyer was then Mayor. Accompanied
by the chief burgesses in brave apparel, he
8
114 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF HEADING.
met the Queen and her husband at the upper
end of Sivier (Silver) Street, just where the
Winchester (or Southampton) Road descends
from Whitley Hill towards the town. As
before, the Mayor knelt in loyal homage,
handed to the Queen the mace, and from
her hands received it again. Again he rode
before his sovereign, bearing the mace in his
hand, and so he led them to the palace at the
Abbey. He presented them with " four great
fat oxen," and again the officers of the Court
received presents from the burgesses.
Queen Elizabeth visited Reading on at
least six occasions. So often was she in the
town that in 1575 she caused a seat to be
made for her in the chancel of St. Lawrence's
church. This seat had a fine canopy above it,
and was called the " state." When she visited
the church, the floor was strewn with flowers
and rushes. On the occasion of her visit in
1602 she dined at Caversham House, where
Lord Knollys, the controller of her house-
hold, resided. Queen Elizabeth took much
interest in Reading. In 1560 she granted to
the Corporation a new charter greatly en-
larging their powers and privileges. It was
she who sent a large number of mulberry
trees to Reading in order to encourage the
industry of silk- weaving.
XVIII.
THE TOWN THREE HUNDRED
YEARS AGO.
Let us try to picture to ourselves Heading as
it was about the end of Elizabeth's long reign
(1558 — 1603) and the beginning of the Stuart
period.* The cloth trade was then at the
height of its prosperity. It is not likely,
however, that in 1600 Reading contained more
than about 5,000 people. Most of them dwelt
within the space marked out by Old Street
(now St. Mary's Butts and West Street),
Friar Street, the Market Place, and the
Hallowed Brook. There were, however, a
good many houses in Castle Street and in
London Street. In 1610 there were no
regular places of worship other than the three
old parish churches, though it is possible that
as early as this date a few people may have
been in the habit of meeting together privately
to worship God in their own way.f
* That is, just before the date of our oldest map of Read-
ing, 1610. See map facing p. 10.
t It is known that more than a century before 1610
there were a few Lollards (followers of John Wiclif) in
Reading.
116 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Much traffic, consisting chiefly of pack-
horses and waggons, passed through the town
along the western road from Bristol to London,
and also along the road which led over Caver-
sham Bridge to Oxford. Many barges passed
to and from Beading by the Kennet and the
Thames. Beading, in fact, had now become
the chief town in Berkshire, and many
observers praised the handsomeness of its
streets and houses.
It was a town of many bridges. In the
year 1560 there were certainly nineteen.
Seven of them were in the short street which
crossed the streams of the Kennet. This
street, now called Bridge Street, was then
called Seven Bridges. Further, there were
six bridges between Caversham Bridge and
the remains of the Friary. Several of the
brooks which these bridges crossed have since
disappeared. Caversham Bridge itself was
very ancient and curious. Part of it was
wood, and part was stone. Half -way across
it were the remains of the old chapel of the
Holy Ghost, in earlier days visited by number-
less pilgrims because of its celebrated relics.
All round the town and quite close even to
the main streets there were green fields, and
within the town there were many gardens
and orchards. The streets were, however,
THE TOWN THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 117
very narrow and crooked. Many of them
were called "rows." The houses were so
built that each storey overhung the one below
it, and though their timbered fronts and
numerous gables were pleasing to behold, the
effect of building thus was to shut out light
from the windows and road below. Moreover,
many houses bore swinging signs, hung out
over the roadway on poles, and these signs
made things darker still. The pavement of
the streets was very uneven. At best it con-
sisted of flints and round pebbles rammed
tightly together. A gutter ran doAvn the
middle of the street, and all kinds of refuse
collected in it. There was only one regular
scavenger, and his work was to cleanse part
of the town once a week. The pigs which
strayed about the streets, and the surly dogs
which lurked in doorways, perhaps made up
a little for the lack of proper scavengers.
There was no general system of drainage
whatever at this time. Water, never filtered,
was got from the rivers or out of wells. The
lighting of the streets at night was then and
long afterwards very poor. It was thought
enough for householders to hang a lantern
outside their doors on nights when there was
no moon. There were no fire engines. A few
leather buckets and some ladders were the
118 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
only appliances in case of a house catching
fire. Pear of fire caused the Corporation to
forbid any one to use thatch for roofing. At
nine o'clock at night the deep voice of
" Harry," the big bell in St. Lawrence's tower,
warned the people to go to bed, and at fire
o'clock in the morning it warned them to
get up.
It was more than sixty years since the
monks had been turned out of the Abbey,
and large parts of their ancient habitation had
been pulled down. But it would seem that the
tower and spire of the great church yet stood,
and so also did the noble chapter house.
Enough of the old house of the Grey Friars
remained in 1614 to make it a suitable lodging
for Queen Anne, the wife of James I. The
house was then approached from the street
through an imposing arched gateAvay. The
guest hall of St. John's Hospital was used
for a town hall and for a free school, while
the old dormitory of the Hospital had been
turned into stables for the King's horses. In
1611 John Blagrave, the mathematician, left
some monev to make the Market Place
larger, and also to build against the side of
St. Lawrence's church, facing the Market Place,
a covered walk, or cloister, for the shelter and
comfort of market women and others, In
THE TOWN THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 119
some of the old pictures of the church this
cloister may he observed. In the middle of
the Market Place were the town pump, the
whijming posts, the pillory, and the stocks.
If we study the map of Reading in 1610,
and also other sources of information, we
notice many differences in the names and
arrangement of the streets. Here are a few
examples. The street now called Cross Street
was then called Gutter Lane. The east end
of Broad Street was split into Butchers' Bow
and Pish Street, and a cluster of houses stood
in the middle of the Butts. Near Butchers'
Bow were the wool hall and the cloth market.
Between West Street and the modern post
office were the sheep market and the pig
market. The corner by the Eriary was called
the Toivn End. Minster Street was so narrow,
and so often blocked with waggons, that in
1618 the Corporation closed it with chains.
There were archery butts in St. Mary's parish
and in St. Giles's parish. On Whitley Hill
there were some wooden houses, occasionally
used for the reception of those stricken with
the plague. There was no proper hosjntal for
the sick or injured.
There were many inns in the town. The
chief of these were the George Inn and the
Bear Inn. The George was already old, for
120 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
it is said that it was built in 1506. It still
continues, but the Bear has been closed. The
Ship, the White Hart, and the Broad Pace
also existed in the seventeenth century, and
they exist still.
On market days the Market Place was
thronged with countryfolk, especially towards
noon. If you could visit it at such times
you would be likely to see many curious
sights. You would see the aldermen of the
Corporation going to the Town Hall in their
furred gowns, and the burgesses' sons going
to the Free School. Yonder might be an
Arabian quack doctor trying to persuade
people to buy his drugs ; or a ragged footpad
caught in the act of cutting a woman's purse
from her girdle. Here the people would
gather round the town sergeants about to cry
in a loud voice a proclamation fresh from
London. Yonder would be a group of travel-
ling actors anxious to be allowed to act their
play in the Town Hall, or a knot of people who
professed to have discovered a witch. Here
would be two men fighting with cudgels and the
constable running up to stop them. Seated on
the ground with their feet fast in the stocks
might be a drunkard or two, or a man caught
swearing bad oaths. All sorts of people,
travelling on the great roads, drifted through
THE TOWN THREE HUNDRED YEARS AGO. 121
Reading and idled about the Market Place on
market days : sailors from the western ports,
soldiers on the march, fugitives from justice,
workmen without work, Irishmen, and even
Dutchmen, thieves and honest folk. The
constables were very anxious to prevent
beggars from stopping in the town, and we
even read of one official called the " cripple
carrier," whose duty it was to carry cripples
beyond the borough boundary.
Such then was Reading about three centuries
ago. The town was on the threshold of
memorable events. Those events, especially
the Civil War, were to leave lasting marks
upon its life, its well-being, and upon its
appearance.
XIX.
THE PLAGUE IN READING,
Several times during the first part of the
seventeenth century the plague visited
Reading. The worst occasions were in 1608
and from 1637 to 1639. At this time no one
had any real understanding of the causes or
nature of fevers or diseases like the plague,
nor were there any sound methods for checking
their spread, or for helping those who were
afflicted with them. In Reading there may
have been one or two physicians at this time,
but their knowledge was of little real value.
Nor were there any trained nurses, or a
properly equipped hospital. The only sensible
measure, generally taken in Reading, was to
try to separate those who were suffering from
the plague from those who were well. As
soon as a case of plague was reported, the
plan was to send women to examine the sick
person in order to find out whether it was
indeed a case of plague. These women were
required to take an oath to tell the truth ;
THE PLAGUE IN READING. 123
they were well paid, and they were the only
nurses or sick attendants to be had. There
were only two or three of them. Usually
they were widows. For some reason those
who were nursed by them took a great dislike
to them.
As soon as a case of plague was declared,
watchmen were appointed to guard the house,
and to prevent other persons from entering it.
Since it was feared that the disease might be
carried or spread by the river traffic from
London, the Corporation in times of pestilence
used to order that all goods brought to
Reading should be well washed at the wharf.
A rude hospital consisting of two cabins, or
houses made of wood, was erected on Whitlev
Hill. Hither the unhappy persons stricken
or " visited " with the plague were carried,
and there they were left to live or to die in
the company of " Good wife Lowgey " and
others of her kind. The plague was so bad
in 1(539 that it was necessary to spend much
money in enlarging the cabins. It would
seem that between 1603 and 1610 about
350 persons in Reading died of the plague.
No fewer than 137 died in 1608,
XX.
WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT REBELLION*
The time was now at hand when the peace of
this thriving little town was to he broken,
when through its homely streets were to sound
the tramp of armed men, the clatter of horse,
the peal of trumpets, and the roar of siege
guns, and when the peaceful fields around it
were to be torn up by military entrenchments.
Eor the first time for more than a hundred
years Englishmen were to draw the sword
upon one another, and the nation was to be
rent asunder under the leadership of rival
captains. As the tumult of war rolled to and
fro, Reading was to be caught in the furious
grasp now of one side and now of the other.
Both sides dealt with her mercilessly, and in
the end she issued from this period of strife
exhausted, and more than half ruined.
What was it that brought about this quarrel
among men of the same speech and blood ?
Hear the words of the foremost leader in
the strife : " The nature of this cause and the
WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT REBELLION. 125
quarrel, what that was at first you all very
ivell knoiv : it was the maintaining the liberty
of these nations; our civil liberties as men,
our spiritual liberties as Christians." These
are the words of Oliver Cromwell. They are
words to be remembered, and Englishmen can
never forget the majesty of the quarrel of
which he speaks.
The questions which our forefathers were
asking in 1640, and asking with angry im-
patience, were such as these. Was the King
of England to be master of his people ? Could
he do as he liked with them, or must he
follow the advice of his Parliament ? Could
he tax his subjects, or throw them into prison,
at his pleasure ? Could he govern the country
without a Parliament at all ? Beyond these
questions lay others deeper and more searching
still. Were Englishmen to be forced to
worship in one particular way, or might they
worship as they pleased, each as he thought
best ? When, after an interval of eleven
years, Parliament at last assembled in 1610,
the members rode up to Westminster from
the shires and boroughs determined to thrash
these questions out, and to settle them with
King Charles I. once and for all.
Yet these questions were hard questions,
and men were by no means agreed as to what
126 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
should be the right answer. Those who, like
Pym and Cromwell, argued that there ought
to be much greater liberty in all these matters,
had much to do to convince others. They
could not deny that the Kings of England had
always possessed great power over their sub-
jects and over Parliament. They could not
deny that there had never been a time when
the power of Parliament had been looked
upon as higher than that of the King. They
could not deny that there had never been a
time when people had been allowed to think,
and speak, and write about religion, and to
worship just as they pleased. They could not
but see that their own view of religion and
worship was distasteful to a large part of the
nation. So that when they demanded more
liberty, and more power for Parliament, and
changes in the national religion, it looked as
if they wished to rob the King of his lawful
rights and overthrow all good order. As soon
as this seemed to be the case there sprang
forward men eager to defend the King's
authority — men who believed in order and
obedience and in old custom, men who feared
rash and violent changes. Among these, as
among the others, were many men of high
character, and of wisdom and long experience
in government.
WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT REBELLION, 127
Thus there was a party on the one side and
a party on the other, and the gulf between
them grew wide and deep. Each party had a
noble cause, and Englishmen were stirred to
that high mood which tells men to hazard
ease and wealth and even life for the sake
of right and truth. Had King Charles,
or James his father, the King before him,
better understood the character of Englishmen
and how to rule them, perhaps the worst of
the quarrel might have been avoided. But
James and Charles went foolishly to work.
Theirs was not the skill of the great Queen
Elizabeth. They bitterly offended their sub-
jects by throwing men into prison wrongfully,
by taking money from them without consent
of Parliament, by treating harshly and with
scorn the religious feelings of the more
earnest Protestants called Puritans. Charles
was now to learn to his OAvn grievous cost
that his subjects in England and Scotland,
despite their patient endurance, would not
for ever submit to be so mishandled.
These Puritans, of whom there were many
in Reading, were now very numerous. They
were the children of the religious Reformation
of the sixteenth century, when England broke
from the Roman Catholic Church, of which
the Pope is the head. They read diligently in
128 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
the Bible, now translated into English, and
the Bible was to them all in all. They had
a deep dread of Roman Catholicism, and of
any form of religion which looked at all like
it. They were determined not to accept at
the order of any king or bishop any form of
worship or belief of which their conscience
conld not approve. Compared with their
religions faith, nothing else seemed to matter
to them. In 1620, for example, some of the
Puritan leaders bade farewell to their own
land and sailed away in the Mayflower, to
found beyond the stormy Atlantic a new home
where they might worship God in peace.
But the rest stayed on. Now in 1642 the
time had come when they were to be put
to the test. Either they must give in or they
must draw the sword. Eor men of such a
faith and temper there could be only one
choice, and so began the greatest war within
herself that England has ever known.
Bight was not all on one side in this famous
struggle. King Charles was not a wicked
tyrant any more than Cromwell was a brutal
usurper. Cromwell's strong soul in a thou-
sand perils and the King's noble calm in
facing death on the scaffold are among the
glories of English history. Each side fought
for high jirinciples. The Puritan noncon-
WHAT CAUSED THE GREAT REBELLION. 129
formist fought for liberty; the churchman
fought for order. Liberty and order are both
precious to a nation ; the difficulty always has
been, and must ever be, how to make them
work smoothly together. Both sides showed
devoted loyalty — the Roundhead to his Par-
liament, the Cavalier to his King. To the
Cavalier the King was not merely a common
leader. He was the Lord's anointed, whose
sacred rights he was ready to defend to the
death. Both sides showed noble qualities
under the fierce light of war. We honour the
steadfast, devout men, plain of speech and
fearing God, who fought with unquenchable
valour by Cromwell's side on many a stricken
field. We honour the eager, gallant spirit,
the spirit of generous chivalry, faithful to
death and scorning risks, of Cavaliers like
Montrose, and the old Marquis of Basing, who,
when his house was beaten about his ears by
Cromwell's guns, undauntedly declared " that
if the King had no more ground in England
but Basing House, he would adventure it as
he did and so maintain it to the uttermost."
The best spirit of both sides — Puritan earnest-
ness and Cavalier fire, Puritan duty and
Cavalier honour, Puritan austerity and Cava-
lier grace — England has need of all, and
rightly does she honour those who in the
9
130 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
great days of Charles and Cromwell showed
these qualities so memorably. For it is not
wealth of purse that makes a people great,
but wealth of heroic souls.
It was the fate of Reading, at once her
privilege and her pain, to bear a part in the
waging of this historic war. The capital of
Puritans and Parliament was London ; the
capital of King and Cavaliers was Oxford.
Reading lay midway between the two, and
was therefore bound to receive blows. More-
over, its position in relation to roads and
rivers gave it special importance. Reading
commanded the Thames ; no barges could pass
a hostile garrison posted at Reading. It com-
manded a main road to Oxford which crossed
Caversham Bridge. It commanded the great
western road between London and Bristol,
and it closed the valley of the Kennet, within
which, at Newbury, two great battles were
fought. The possession of Reading, therefore,
was sure to be disputed by both sides. Pew
towns, indeed, suffered more. And yet towns,
like nations and individuals, are taught by
suffering no less than by prosperity. To-day
we are stirred by the thought that our own
town counted for so much in this conflict of
famous men and famous principles.
XXI.
A STAR CHAMBER PUNISHMENT.
In 1633 a strange spectacle was seen in
Reading. On Saturday, December 21st,
being market day, the Mayor and Corpora-
tion assembled in the Market Place. With
them were the constables and other officers.
A great concourse of townspeople and country-
folk crowded around them. They had gathered
there to see a man, Lodowick Bowyer by
name, set in the pillory by order of the court
of Star Chamber.
The pillory was a sort of wooden frame,
in which a man was fixed in a standing
posture so firmly that he could move neither
his head nor his hands. Bowyer 's ears were
nailed to the pillory, and a paper was
fastened upon his head describing the offence
of which he had been ^uiltv. He was
required to read to the crowd a confession
of his fault, and there he was left in his
shame, a target for all who might fling stones
or filth upon him, until it was considered that
1S2 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
his punishment had been enough. Then he
was taken back to prison.
What was the offence of which Lodowick
Bowyer had been guilty ?
In the previous September this man was
in Reading. He seems to have been a talka-
tive, bragging fellow, and very likely he was
too fond of tavern company. He was foolish
enough to spread a malicious story about
William Laud, who had just been made Arch-
bishop of Canterbury. This story was to the
effect that Laud had been writing letters to
the Pope. These letters had been discovered,
and because of them the King, said Bowyer,
had placed Laud under arrest. Bowyer also
said that Laud had been sending large sums
of money every year to the Pope. The
people of England detested the Pope, and
these statements, if true, must cause them
to think ill of Laud.
There was no truth in this silly story.
Yet men's minds were excited about Laud
just then, and many people suspected that he
was a Eoman Catholic at heart. In Beading
people were sure to listen to any gossip about
him, for Laud was a Beading man. Bowyer 's
tale came to the ears of the Mayor of Bead-
ing, who inquired into it, and threw Bowyer
into prison. When the Mayor reported what
A STAR CHAMBER PUNISHMENT. 133
Bowyer had said to the Secretary of State
in London, the Secretary of State said that
no man would tell snch a foolish story who
was not drunk or mad. The Mayor of Read-
ing, however, made much ado ahout a small
trouble, and nothing would please him hut
to send Bowyer to London. Soon afterwards
Bowyer was brought before the court of Star
Chamber.
When we read the punishment which was
ordered to be inflicted upon this babbler,
we can understand how the English people
came to hate the court of Star Chamber.
The court of Star Chamber said that Bowyer
was to pay a tine of £3,000 ; that he was
to stand in the pillory three times — twice
in London and once in Beading — with his
ears nailed to the pillory ; that he was to
be whipped ; that he was to be branded in
the face with the letter " R," to signify
" Bogue," or " L," to signify "Liar"; and
that, after these punishments had been in-
flicted upon him, he was to be imprisoned
for life.
This, then, was what might happen in those
days if a nobody was foolish enough to re-
peat an idle tale about a great man high in
the King's favour. Such an offence may
have deserved a slight punishment, but wise
134 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
men would have passed it over with contempt.
These outrageous Star Chamber sentences
were one of the chief causes why so many
people came to rebel against the government
of King Charles I., and to regard with hatred
men, like William Laud, who assented to
them.
XXII.
SHIP MONEY*
Prom 1629 to 1640 King Charles I. tried to
rule England without a Parliament. He had
been angered by his failure to win the trust
and support of the House of Commons, and
in proud resentment, he resolved to break with
the customs of his people and to rule without
their help. It was a bold scheme, but it
needed a stronger will and clearer head than
Charles possessed to carry it to success, so
deeply rooted were ancient liberties in English
hearts.
Since no regular taxes could properly be
levied without consent of Parliament, the
King soon found himself in lack of money
wherewith to carry on his government. He
therefore had to make use of shifts for raising
money. Among these, the one which became
most noised among the people, and kindled
most anger, was the tax of Ship Money.
Ship Money was a charge levied now and
then in previous times upon the people by
136 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
the King when there had been danger of inva-
sion by sea. Usually it had been paid by the
sea-board shires only. The reasons why men
were so angry that this tax should be levied
by King Charles were because they did not
believe that invasion then threatened, because
he exacted the tax from inland shires like
Berkshire no less than from sea-board shires
like Kent, and because already it had come
to be regarded as a breach of the under-
standing between the sovereign and his sub-
jects for any tax to be laid on the people
without the consent of the House of Commons.
Men felt that the King was not acting fairly.
If he wanted money he should call a Par-
liament, and persuade Parliament to make
him a grant in the usual way. It was this
tax of Ship Money that John Hampden, a
gentleman of Buckinghamshire, refused to
pay on the grounds that it was contrary both
to the law of the land and to the liberties of
the people. His case came before the King's
judges, and was decided against him. But
the people continued angry.
The first demand on Beading for Ship
Money was received in August, 1635. It
required the town to raise £260 # u towards
• In this case, as in all others of the kind referring to
bygone times, it must be remembered that the value of
SHIP MONEY. 137
the providing and furnishing of one ship of
war to he in readiness at Portsmouth by the
1st March next." Nine years earlier the
burgesses of Reading had shown how little
they were disposed to agree to demands by the
King for money unless those demands had
the consent and authority of Parliament. In
1626 Charles had asked Reading for what
was called a "free gift," or "forced loan" —
that is, a grant of money not authorised by
Parliament. The leading men of Reading
met in their Town Hall, and this was their
loyal but resolute answer : And it ivas then
and there generally with one consent and ivith
one voice resolved and answered that every
man was willing his Majesty's want of money
should be supplied, but not in manner as it is
required; and desire that there may be a Par-
liament, for then all men should be bound to
pay a part. Such had been the answer of
Reading to the King's unjust demands in
1626 ; and its answer was similar in 1635.
Even on this first occasion of 1635 there were
some burgesses in Reading who would not
pay the tax. Their goods were, therefore,
seized by constables and sold. Each year
money was much greater then than now. A demand for
,£260 in 1635 would be represented now by a demand for
a sum several times as large.
138 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
until 1640 these demands by the King were
renewed, and each year there was the same
difficulty in persuading people to pay the
tax. In July, 1638, the constable was again
seizing the goods of those who would not pay
of their own will. Here is the record of
a case in Reading.
"A distress in goods of Mr. James Smith
for twenty shillings taxed upon him : —
One copper kettle, Avorth , 14s.
One iron pot, worth . . 4s.
One iron kettle, worth . . 3s.
21s7
" Henry Prewyn and Roger Walker, praisers.
" Instantly Richard Stampe in Mr. Smith's
behalf paid the 20s. and redeemed the goods
before they were sold."
In 1640 Berkshire petitioned the King
against the continuance of Ship Money. And
now the temper of the nation was such that
it was impossible for the tax to continue
longer. In 1640 the King's affairs were in
such a plight that he had no choice but to
call Parliament together. In November the
famous Long Parliament assembled. It made
short work of abuses like Ship Money. In
SHIP MONEY. 139
1641 Parliament declared that the levying of
Ship Money was unlawful. In the same year
the Corporation of Reading resolved that those
persons within the town whose goods had been
sold in order to meet the demands of the tax-
collectors should have their money repaid to
them by the Corporation. It would almost
seem from this entry that, latterly, at any
rate, no one in the town had voluntarily paid
any part of the tax of Ship Money, but that
the only money obtained by the tax-collectors
had been as a result of forced sales of the
tax-payers' goods.
XXIII.
THE FIRST PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION
CONTESTS.
For more than six centuries, since the calling
of the famous Model Parliament by the first
King Edward in the year 1295, Reading has
been represented in Parliament. Until a few
years ago it has been represented by two
members. It would seem that until the seven-
teenth century the custom was for the tAvo
" burgesses of Parliament," as they were
called, to be chosen by the Mayor and bur-
gesses in the Gild Hall ; and probably no one
had any voice in choosing them except the
members of the Gild or Corporation. Not
until the seventeenth century does the general
body of townsmen seem to have been consulted
at all. So that, throughout this early period,
a parliamentary election was by no means the
occasion of bustle and excitement, of public
meetings and placards and noisy processions,
that it has become in our times.
The members of Parliament elected for
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION CONTESTS. 141
Reading in the old days were almost always
leading burgesses of the town. Service in
Parliament was not then so much a coveted
honour as a burdensome duty. Those elected
to serve in Parliament therefore received wages
from the town so long as Parliament was
sitting. They were paid two shillings a day.*
About the beginning of the seventeenth
century, however, there came a notable
change. As we have already seen, great
questions were then stirring the country, and
the growing power of Parliament caused men
to be eager to enter the House of Commons.
Prom this three things resulted. Pirst, we
find that not only burgesses of Reading, but
strangers from outside, often men of high
position, became eager to be elected for
Reading. Secondly, men were so eager to
be elected that they were willing to give
up their wages of two shillings a day. And
thirdly, the public interest taken in elections
became so keen and widespread that the
Corporation were no longer able to keep the
election of members of Parliament wholly in
their own hands. It was now found that the
mass of the townspeople, those who were
called the commonalty, insisted on having
a voice in the election. When we find this
* See note at page 136.
142 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
to be the case we know that we have reached
times and conditions like our own. Interest
in politics has become general.
The first instance of a disputed parlia-
mentary election in Reading belongs to the
year 1624. There were four candidates, and
of course only two of them could be elected.
But this election was conducted much in the
old way, and it was not what we should now
call a contested election ; for the members
were elected at a meeting of the Corporation,
and the only voters were members of the
Corporation. Sir Francis Knollys was placed
at the head of the poll with twenty-one votes.
But during the eleven years in which King
Charles tried to rule England without a
Parliament the political excitement of the
country steadily grew; and when, in 1640,
Parliament was at last called together, the
townspeople of Beading for the first time
demanded of the Corporation a voice in the
election of their representatives in the House
of Commons. Even now, however, it is not
certain that any votes except those of the
Corporation were actually given. What hap-
pened was that the Town Hall was so beset
by the people that the Corporation could not
proceed with the business of the election.
And next day, in order to calm the excited
FIRST PARLIAMENTARY ELECTION CONTESTS. 143
people, the Mayor came forth from the Council
Chamber and told them that Sir Francis
Knollys and his son had been elected by the
Corporation " and by many others." It is
clear that the Mayor felt that the Corpora-
tion could no longer keep the election all
to themselves.
Later in the year a new Parliament was
called, afterwards famous as the Long Parlia-
ment. At Beading there were five candidates.
As before, the election was begun in the
Council Chamber and finished in public, and
we find that two of the chief " commoners "
claimed on behalf of the townspeople gener-
ally a right to vote. It does not seem certain
that any of the townspeople actually did vote
on this occasion, but the names of the two
candidates chosen by the Corporation were
submitted to the people outside the Council
Chamber, and both were approved.
In 1645 what we should now call a bye-
election was held, owing to the death of one
of the members elected in 1640. This time
the townspeople secured the right to vote,
and probably for the first time exercised it.
Polling went on all day, and the successful
candidate received 560 votes, and his opponent
309. This was the first real case of a publicly
contested parliamentary election in Reading.
144 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF BEADING.
Never since that time has the Corporation
ventured to claim the sole right to choose the
members of Parliament for the borough,
although, in the eighteenth century, the right
to vote in a parliamentary election became
limited to a small number of persons. Not
until the great Reform Act of 1832 was the
franchise, or right to vote, extended largely.
Later in the nineteenth century further
franchise reforms added to the number of
voters.
XXIV.
WILLIAM LAUD, OF READING, ARCH-
BISHOP OF CANTERBURY.
One January morning, in the year 1645, a
dense crowd of people gathered on the hill
hard by the Tower of London. In the midst
of them and above the sea of heads rose a
scaffold bearing a headsman's block and axe.
So great was the press that the people not
only covered all the ground, but they thronged
the windows and roofs of houses near, while
some stood beneath the scaffold itself. To-
wards eleven o'clock a procession issued from
the Tower gates. Accompanied by Sir John
Pennington, Lieutenant of the Tower, and a
guard of soldiers, an old man came forth.
He was dressed with plain dignity. His hair
was white, and he supported his steps with a
staff. He bore himself with brave composure.
As he mounted the scaffold, and turned to
speak to the people, his cheeks did not pale
nor did his voice falter. Having spoken and
prayed with solemn fervour, he knelt down
145 10
146 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
and laid his head upon the block, and with
words of prayer upon his lips died beneath the
headsman's axe. He who thus perished in
the face of the hushed multitude was William
Laud, of Reading, Archbishop of Canterbury.
Seventy-two years before, on October 7th,
1573, William Laud was born in Reading in
a small house, now pulled down, which stood
on the north side of Broad Street. His father
was a prosperous clothier; his mother's brother
became Lord Mayor of London. The boy was
sent to the Free School at Reading. In after
life Laud did not think well of the master
who taught him; but he was a clever boy, and
he got on fast with his studies. He was still
a school-boy in .1588, when all England was
stirred by the triumph over the Spanish
Armada. Next year, at the age of sixteen,
he left school for the University of Oxford,
where he entered St. John's College. He
obtained one of the scholarships established
by Sir Thomas White at the College, for the
benefit of boys educated at the Free School,
Reading. At Oxford he was a keen student,
and after he had taken his degree in 1594, he
quickly rose to high position in the Uni-
versity. In 1611 he was appointed President
of St. John's College. Under him the College
prospered greatly. He added to its buildings
WILLIAM LAUD, OF READING. 147
and raised its reputation. On one occasion
he entertained there with splendour King
Charles I. and his Queen, Henrietta Maria.
In 1621 he was appointed Bishop of St.
David's, in Wales. Charles L, who became
King in 1625, admired and trusted Laud ;
hence, in 1628, Laud became Bishop of
London. Five years later he was raised to
the highest position in the Church of England,
that of Archbishop of Canterbury.
We have already seen that at this time the
nation was deeply troubled by differences in
religion. Laud, from the first, took a leading
part in these questions, and no man had a
greater share in shaping the religious policy
of King Charles I. It is because of his share
in these things that Laud has been so severely
blamed by some and so warmly praised by
others. Laud's fear was lest the religious
changes in England should go too far. On
the one hand, he was opposed to the Roman
Catholics ; on the other hand, he distrusted and
disliked the Puritans. He wished all men to
accept the teaching and worship of the Church
of England, which he desired to see both
purified from old abuses and free from new
errors. He upheld his views with great
learning, industry, and enthusiasm. Yet his
zeal led him to pay too little heed to the
148 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING,
convictions and feelings of men no less earnest
and sincere than himself. He was too ready
to adopt harsh methods when he could not
win his way hy persuasion. He could not
bear to think that English religion should
lack unity and uniformity. When, therefore,
he came to have power over the King's policy,
he issued order after order intended to
force all people to accept one way of wor-
ship and faith. In the end he drove the
Puritans of England and Scotland to stern
resistance. They came to believe that he was
at best only a lukewarm supporter of that
Protestant faith so dear to them, nor could
they ever forgive him for the harsh measures
which he took, or to which he consented,
against themselves. When the Long Parlia-
ment met in 1640, and the storm of opposition
to King Charles at last broke forth, all men
knew that Archbishop Laud and his great
friend, Thomas Wentworth, Earl of Strafford
— the two men who were believed to have
had most share in the King's policy — would
both be brought to judgement. Laud was
impeached before the House of Lords by the
House of Commons, and placed under arrest.
Eor two-and-a-half years he was imprisoned
in the Tower of London awaiting his trial.
His property was taken from him, and his
WILLIAM LAUD, OF READING. 149
goods were sold. At last his trial began in
November, 1643. He was charged with
attempting to overthrow the laws of the
Protestant religion. The judges, who were
consulted, said that it would be impossible
to convict him of high treason. Even so he
was not to escape. An order was made by
Parliament that he should die.
It is not likely that people will ever agree
in their judgement of Archbishop Laud. He
was too closely concerned in the religious
warfare which left so deep a mark upon the
life of England and of Scotland. During his
life his opinions, and the severity with which
he sought to enforce them, stirred up hatred,
which still lingers. He still has champions
and he still has opponents. That perhaps is
why there is and can be no public and con-
spicuous memorial in Reading to the man
who, of all the sons of Reading, bears the
most noted name.
Yet Reading, which owes so much to his
generosity, need not fear to remember what
was good and honourable in William Laud as
well as what was to be blamed. Whatever
may be thought of his religious policy, he had
many noble qualities. Although his bodily
health was never good, no man of those days
worked harder for great purposes. He did
150 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
not heap up wealth for himself. Whatever
mistakes he made, he served the King with
unselfish devotion, and he was kind and
generous to those who served himself. If his
temper w r as hasty, and his manners often
harsh and displeasing, he loved the simple
pleasures of his garden, of his singing hirds,
and of music. That he possessed true courage
of the soul, he showed by his manner of facing
a dreadful death. The cause of learning
owed much to him. He was a lover of hooks
and jnctures, anc [ } ie made many splendid
gifts to the great library at Oxford. Finally
we should remember that Reading, the town
of his birth, was ever dear to him. " As long
as I forget not myself," he wrote from his cell
in the Tower of London to the Mayor of
Reading, "I cannot but remember that place."
Soon after he became Archbishop of Canter-
bury he began to consider how best he could
benefit the town where he was born and bred.
He gave the Corporation much help and
advice in the appointment of a new master
of the Free School. More important was the
service which he rendered to the Corporation
in helping them to obtain, in the year 1638, a
new charter of liberties from the King. For
these services Laud was thanked by the
Corporation. The charter, which was thus
WILLIAM LAUD, OF READING. 151
obtained, conferred upon the Corporation
valuable powers and privileges which they
had not possessed before. Again, in 1640,
Laud gave noble effect to his " great longing
to do some good to the town of Reading."
This desire to do something for Reading, and
for poor people there, had long been in his
mind, and the plan came to him, he tells us,
one night when he was at his prayers. He
now gave to the Corporation lands at Bray, in
Berkshire, worth £200 a year. This income,
large for those times, was to be spent in
apprenticing poor boys to honest trades, and
in giving marriage portions to poor girls.
Nearly all the benefits were for Beading boys
and girls, but some help was to be given to
boys and girls of Wokingham, where Laud's
father had been born. Of the remaining
income, £50 a year was to be paid to the Vicar
of St. Lawrence's Church ; £20 a year was to
be paid towards the salary, very small hither-
to, of the Master of the Free School ; and £10
a year was to be paid for the cost of an in-
spection of the School every three years by
officials of the University of Oxford. Thus
Laud takes his place among the benefactors
of Beading, and it is perhaps for this reason
that his portrait still hangs in the Council
Chamber at the Town Hall.
XXV.
THE SIEGE OF READING,
It was on the stormy evening of August 25th,
1642, that King Charles I. unfurled his
standard at Nottingham, and the great Civil
War began. Already a week previously the
people of Reading were busy setting up posts
and chains to guard the roads leading into
their town. Danger indeed was near. The
King marched across England to Shrewsbury,
and from Shrewsbury he bent his course upon
London. On October 23rd he fought the
battle of Edge Hill, which was neither a
victory nor a defeat, and six days later he
rode into Oxford in pomp. On November 3rd
he sent a stern order to the Mayor and
aldermen of Reading that they should make
Caversham Bridge strong enough for the
passage of his army by eight o'clock on the
next morning. On November 4th he crossed
the bridge and led his troops into Reading.
Three days earlier the officer who had held
Reading with a small garrison for the Parlia-
152
THE SIEGE OF READING. 153
ment had fled. The King halted at Reading
a good part of the month of November,
forcing all the tailors there to work hard in
order to make for his army a thousand suits
of clothes. He was checked in his further
advance upon London, and on November 28th
he retreated to Oxford, which henceforth
became the Royalist head quarters.
The King had decided that Reading would
be a useful outpost to him. He felt that
while he held Reading his enemies could
not safely advance upon him from London.
When, therefore, he marched away in Novem-
ber, 1642, he left behind him a garrison of
2,000 foot and a regiment of horse, under Sir
Arthur Aston as Governor.
It was now that the hardships of Reading
began. Both sides, especially the King's,
were short of monev. One after another the
military Governors of Reading set to work to
wring money from the town. Aston twice
demanded a loan of £2,000, besides a heavy
contribution every week. In order to pay
these sums, the Corporation had to borrow
money on the security of their wool hall,
their market tolls, and other properties. They
appealed desperately to the King, but they
obtained little satisfaction from his vague
promises of repayment.
154 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Meanwhile, the town was converted into
a fortress. The Free School became a maga-
zine of arms. Soldiers were quartered in
John Kenclrick's house of industry in
Minster Street, at the Friary, at the royal
stables in the old Hospital of St. John, and
in Thomas Harrison's barn on Whitley Hill.
All passage to and from the town was strictly
guarded. Nearly 3,000 soldiers were quar-
tered upon 5,000 inhabitants. Quiet towns-
men went in fear of their lives. Houses were
broken into ; some were burned down ; the
very magistrates were beaten in the streets.
By day and by night there were frequent
alarms that the Roundheads were about to
assault the ramparts. The cloth trade Avas
ruined, for no waggon or packhorse dared
venture on the roads. The one thing that
kept the clothiers busy was the forced task
of making for the garrison clothes, for which
payment was seldom if ever to be had.
On April 13th, 1643, the Earl of Essex,
at the head of a Parliamentary army, left
Windsor, bent upon wresting Reading from
the Cavaliers as the first step to an attack on
Oxford. With the Earl, a staunch old soldier
whom the soldiers called "Old Robin," were
16,000 foot soldiers, 3,000 horse, and a train
of siege guns. With him also were Philip
THE SIEGE OF READING. 155
Skippon, a veteran who had fought in the
Low Countries, and famous John Hampden
at the head of his Buckinghamshire green-
coats. Essex drew near the town on its
western side, seized Gaversham Bridge, and
thus made it difficult for Beading to be re-
lieved by the King at Oxford. He then sent
a stern message to Aston, the Governor, bid-
ding him surrender. Aston retorted that
either he would hold the town for the King,
or he would starve and die in it. Essex,
therefore, resolved to lay siege to Beading.
His head quarters was the old moated house
of Sir John Blagrave which still stands at
Southcote. During the night of April loth
his soldiers threw up their batteries, and early
on the following Sunday, April 16th, the guns
of the Barliamentary army opened fire upon
the town. This was the first siege that had
as yet taken place in the Civil War. No such
Sabbath had ever dawned in Beading.
Aston seems to have had about 3,000 men.
In cannon he was not so strong as Essex. He
had plenty of food, and he had well fortified
the town. The " main bulwarks " were in
the shape of a four-sided figure. Erom the
Eriary (Grey Friars Church) the line of ram-
parts ran to the north-east corner of the Abbey
enclosure. Thence they turned southward,
156 THE ST011Y OF THE TOWN OF READING.
and, following roughly the line of the modern
Sidmouth Street, they crossed London Road,
and turned westward about half-way up the
ascent of the present Kendrick Road. Thence
they passed westward over Katesgrove Hill,
and down the steep slope to the Kennet.
The meadows between Katesgrove Hill and
Castle Hill were flooded, so that none could
cross them or break in that way. At the top
of Castle Hill the earthworks began again,
and from there they passed in a straight line
to the Friary. In addition to this long line
of encircling ramparts there were a number
of separate forts. There was a fort on Caver-
sham Hill, one on Whitley Hill, and one
on Castle Hill, and at points along the
ramparts, especially where roads entered the
town, there were smaller redoubts and forts.
It is said that the earthworks were in some
places strengthened by wooden palisades, and
by the woolpacks of the clothiers.
Day after day the guns of Essex thundered
upon the town. He beat down the steeple of
Caversham church, upon which Aston had
mounted a cannon. He raised the drawbridge
at Caversham Bridge, and, little by little, he
pushed forward his men within musket-shot
of the garrison on the west and south-west.
On April 18th a force of Royalists was des-
THE SIEGE OF READING. 157
cried on the Oxfordshire hills. The Royalist
officer who led them saw that he could not
enter the town by Caversham Bridge. He
therefore pressed on to Sonning, and from
Sonning he managed to send 600 musketeers
and a supply of ammunition to Reading in
boats. By the 19th Reading was beset on all
sides. On the same day Sir Arthur Aston
was wounded in the head by a splinter of
brick thrown up by a cannon-ball. Colonel
Richard Fielding took his place as commander.
It is also said that the besiegers' cannon
battered to pieces the steeple of St. Giles's
church.
On April 22nd a messenger from Oxford
slipped through the besiegers' lines, swam
across the Thames, and announced the joyful
news that relief was at hand. But this
plucky messenger was caught by the soldiers
of Essex on his return ; and therefore, the
surprise attack on the Roundheads could not
be made. The King now became much
alarmed for the safety of his garrison at
Reading. He summoned Prince Rupert from
Lichfield; and on April 24th, Rupert, the
gallant leader of cavalry, joined the King,
already on his way to Reading to relieve the
garrison.
But on the very day that the King drew
158 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
near, and just before he began his assault on
the forces of Essex, Fielding hung out a
white flag and agreed to surrender. Almost
at the same moment the Royalist musketeers,
a thousand strong, burst upon the Parlia-
mentary guard at Caversham Bridge. Charles
and Rupert led the charge as they dashed
upon the bridge. Prom the hill above
their guns supported their attack. At first
they seemed likely to prevail, but as they
crowded upon the narrow bridge they offered
an easy target to the Parliamentary sharp-
shooters who lined the opposite bank of the
river. Now was the time for Fielding to
sally forth from Reading, and join forces with
the King. The King knew nothing of the
flag of truce, and he was bitterly disappointed
that Fielding did not come. The Royalists
failed to force their way across the bridge.
A sudden storm of hail and rain, breaking
from the April skies, beat in their faces and
completed their discomfiture. They withdrew
up the hill, hotly pressed by the victorious
Roundheads and leaving many dead and
wounded behind them. The King himself
went to Caversham House. Later in the day
he heard of the surrender. Reluctantly he
agreed to it. Next day he crossed the hills
to Nettlebed.
THE SIEGE OF READING. 159
On April 26th the articles of surrender were
signed. Early on the 27th the trumpets blew,
and the King's garrison at Reading mustered
to march out with the honours of war. At
ten o'clock a long procession began to move
towards the old Oxford Hoad, which then left
the town at the Friary. First, in a litter
borne by horses and covered with red hang-
ings, came the wounded Governor, Sir Arthur
Aston. Then came waggons with the sick
and wounded. After them came four cannon,
dragged by teams of horses. Lastly marched
the main body of the soldiers. With colours
aloft and lighted match, with drums beating
and trumpets sounding, horse and foot passed
through the ramparts and took the road by
Caversham Bridge to Oxford.
Disgraceful scenes were now to take place.
At Friars' Corner the soldiers of Essex stood
ranked ready to enter the captured town.
From jeers and insults towards their beaten
foes they proceeded to violence. Waggons
were plundered, weapons were snatched away,
and riotous scenes followed the entrance of
the victors to the town. Houses were sacked,
taverns were broken open, and soon drunken-
ness was added to the tumult. Not until
after two days did discipline return. On
Sunday, April 30th, the Puritan earnestness
160 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
regained its sway. Morning, noon, and night
the churches were crowded. But the Cava-
liers never forgave the breach of faith shown
by the soldiers of Essex.
Reading remained in the hands of the
Parliamentarians until the end of September,
1643. It changed hands more than once, but
in the end it passed permanently into the
keeping of the victorious Parliament.
XXVI.
JOHN HAMPDEN AT READING.
After the capture of Reading in April, 1643,
Essex stayed in the town until May 26th,
partly because of sickness among his soldiers,
and partly because officers and men refused
to march without pay. Not until May 17th
did the necessary money arrive from London.
On May 26th Essex resolved to move the
greater part of his army to the higher ground
and healthier situation of Caver sham Hill.
He fixed his own quarters in Lord Craven's
house, while the soldiers were to encamp in
the park. A guard of one regiment was to
remain in Reading.
The order to leave was ill received by the
army. The men again clamoured for pay,
and many refused to budge. Essex went out
among them, and rebuked them, and pleaded
with them; but in vain. Towards nightfall
he persuaded " with much ado " his own
regiment to accompany him across the bridge
to Caversham Hill. Most of the army then
161 -Q
162 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
followed, but the regiment of John Hampden
showed itself openly mutinous and would not
march. Hampden, however, was of all men
the least easy to frighten or beat down. On
the following day he again faced his stubborn
men, and plied them " with good words and
fair language." At last his pleading, and
the force of his strong, courageous character
awoke the instinct of loyalty. Soon the
mutineers of yesterday were cheerfully march-
ing to join their comrades at Caversham.
Less than a month from this time, on
June 18th, brave John Hampden received his
death-wound at Chalgrove Field, in Oxford-
shire. With heads bared and arms reversed,
with voices uplifted — while muffled drums
throbbed and rolled — in the strain of that
psalm which tells how the sons of men fade
away suddenly like the grass, the soldiers
who had fought by his side laid his body to
rest in the church of Hampden.
It is interesting to remember that not only
was Hampden present at the siege and cap-
ture of Reading in 1643, but that he was
connected with the town in other ways. He
married the widow of Sir Thomas Vachell
and daughter of Sir Francis Knollys. Both
Sir Thomas Vachell and Sir Francis Knollys
were closely connected with Reading. They
JOHN HAMPDEN AT READING. 163
held property there, and Sir Francis Knollys
and the nephew of Sir Thomas Vachell re-
presented Reading in Parliament. It was
through this marriage that John Hampden
became the owner of Coley House at Reading,
where King Charles stayed in May, 1644.
In the roll of our patriots no name stands
higher than the name of Hampden. We may
be proud that our town should have been
associated with him. With the name of
Hampden may be mentioned the name of
Christopher Milton, brother of the great poet,
who was living in Reading at the time of the
siege of 1643.
XXVII.
HOW THE MAYOR OF READING WAS
KIDNAPPED BY CAVALIERS.
In May, 1644, King Charles gave orders that
Reading, which had been held by his forces
since September, 1643, should be abandoned.
He knew that a Roundhead army was ad-
vancing from London, and he feared that he
was not strong enough to hold Reading
against it. Before leaving, however, he
caused the fortifications of Reading to be
destroyed, so that they should not be used
against him by his enemies. The Royalists
then marched away to Oxford. Soon after-
wards the troops of the Earl of Essex again
occupied the town.
A change of masters made little difference
to the people of Reading, for both sides
always made ruinous demands upon them
for money and labour. But little did they
foresee what was now to happen. A few
miles away, Lieutenant-Colonel Lower held
Wallingford for the King. He knew that
Reading had not paid all the money asked
164
HOW THE MAYOU WAS KIDNAPPED. 165
for by Charles, and he knew also that
the Roundhead force in Reading was as yet
small. He now planned a daring stroke.
Suddenly, on the night of June 2nd, a party
of Royalist horsemen swooped down upon the
town and carried off William Brackston, the
Mayor, to Wallingford.
Prom Wallingford they allowed the Mayor
to send a letter to the aldermen of Reading,
saying that he would be kept a prisoner
until the money demanded from the town
by the King should be paid. The aldermen
at Reading wrote back to ask how much
money was wanted. On this thorny subject
letters passed to and fro. Colonel Lower was
very polite. He offered to exchange the
Mayor for two aldermen ; but he said he
should not give him up until he was assured
that the money would be paid over. The
aldermen at Reading knew not what to do.
None of them seems to have been anxious
to be exchanged for the Mayor, nor did
they know where to turn for money. On
June 25th they met privately at the house of
one of their number. They had before them
the King's demand for £150 already due, and
for £50 a week henceforth for the mainten-
ance of the garrison at Wallingford. This
letter was much debated and considered.
166 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
There was hardly any money left in the
town. At length they resolved to send a
submissive answer and to say that they
wished they could do what was asked, but
they were quite unable, and that they there-
fore begged that Colonel Lower would show
forbearance towards them. On the next day
Lower wrote back to say that this kind of
reply was not what he wanted. Nevertheless,
he would consent to accept £100, and to be
content with less than £50 a week ; but until
they should agree to these modified terms the
Mayor would stay at Wallingford. Further,
if it should come to his ears that the
aldermen were helping the rebels he should
double his demands.
Again there was a private meeting of the
aldermen at Beading, and again they resolved
to beg Lower to forbear. They also sent a
petition to the King at Oxford, asking for the
release of the Mayor, and for an abatement of
the demands made upon them for money. The
council at Oxford seem to have given some
attention to this entreaty, and it would seem
that before long the Mayor regained his liberty,
and returned to Reading. Yet to the end of
his days, he would remember the wild gallop
through the summer lanes on the night when
he was kidnapped by the Cavaliers.
XXVIII.
INCIDENTS IN STUART TIMES.
During the fifty years from 1640 to 1690 the
history of England was crowded with stirring
events. First came the Great Rebellion, which
ended in the victory of the Parliament and in
the execution of Kinsr Charles. Next followed
the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell. Then
there was the interval between his death
(1658) and the Restoration (1660), during
which the feeble Richard Cromwell tried to
rule. In 1660 the old monarchy was restored,
and for some years the government of the
country ran much upon its old lines. In
1685 occurred the dangerous rebellion of
Monmouth, crushed at the battle of Sedge-
moor. Then, in 1688, King James II. kindled
such anger in the nation by his religious
policy, that William of Orange was invited
to rescue the country from his rule. James
fled, and William and Mary became King and
Queen. Thus in fifty years the life of the
168 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
nation underwent frequent changes. Of all
these changes we find many records in the
annals of Eeading.
The townspeople and the members of the
Corporation were often divided, some favour-
ing one side of a question and some another.
Yet, upon the whole, they accepted very
quietly these great changes that followed one
another so quickly. Perhaps Ave should be
risrht in thinking that their sufferings in the
Civil AYar were so grievous, that they were
ready to obey any ruling power which pro-
mised a j^i'iod. of quiet and orderly govern-
ment. Yet, like the rest of the English people,
thev would not for ever be loval to a kinsr who
attacked the Protestant religion.
Xo event in English history made a deeper
mark upon the minds of men than the exe-
cution of King Charles I. on January 30th,
1649. Whatever mistakes he might have
made, it was impossible for most men not to
feel pity for his fate. Yet, if we look in the
diary of the Corporation of Reading, we can
see onlv one sign of this tremendous event.
This one sign is that whereas on one page an
entry is dated " the 29th January in the year
of our Lord 1648 and in the 2Wi year of the
reign of King Charles of England," the next
entry is dated " the bth day of February in the
INCIDENTS IN STUART TIMES. 169
year of our Lord 1648." # The Corporation,
in fact, bowed to the new order of things.
They bought a new mace, and sjave orders
that the roval arms should not be engraved
upon it. They hastened to wait on Oliver
Cromwell with wine and sugar when he rested
at the Bear Inn on his way through Reading.
They rewarded the ringers whose peals cele-
brated " the prosperous success of the army
in Scotland," when Cromwell won his great
victory of Dunbar (September 3rd. 1650), and
"the good success" at "Worcester when, ex-
actly a vear later, Cromwell won another
victory over the Royalists. When the Pro-
tector died they referred to him as " the most
serene and renowned Oliver, Lord Protector
of this Commonwealth"; and they j)roceeded
to proclaim, with pomp, the succession of
" the most noble and illustrious Lord, the
Lord Richard, to be Protector of the Common-
wealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland,
and the dominions and territories thereto
belonging." This was in September, 1658.
Less than two years later, in May. 1660, the
Corporation were making quite a different
proclamation. They were announcing " with
great solemnity and rejoicing, on a stage set
* We should now call this year 1649, and not 1648, as
our years now begin in January, and not in March.
170 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
up in the open Market Place, our Sovereign
Lord King Charles II." Once more they sent
the mace to the goldsmith; this time the
royal arms were to be replaced upon it. And
they spent money in providing beer, wine,
and bonfires for the people.
The accession of King James II., in 1685,
was announced in Reading " with great accla-
mations, the bells ringing, drums beating, and
trumpets sounding." Five months later, in
June, 1685, the Town Clerk publicly read a
proclamation denouncing the Duke of Mon-
mouth and all who supported his rebellion as
traitors. Not long after, the Queen of
James II., and his daughter, afterwards Queen
Anne, passed through Reading, and on each
occasion the Corporation, robed in their gowns,
waited upon them " with a dish of sweet-
meats." A few months later James II. fled
from the country. The long period of change
closed with a notable incident in September,
1690, when the Mayor and Corporation, in
their gowns, proceeded to the top of Castle
Hill, and handed their mace in token of
obedience, and forty broad pieces of gold in
token of affection, to William of Orange,
now become King William III. of England,
Avho was returning from Ireland after his
victory at the Boyne.
XXIX.
INDEPENDENTS, BAPTISTS, AND
FRIENDS,
Visits to Reading of George Fox and John Bunyan.
Until the Protestant Reformation of the
sixteenth century the English people followed
a single teaching and worship in religion.
After the Reformation, however, differences
arose. Not only were there still many who
clung to the old Roman Catholic faith, but
the attempt to include all those who followed
the reformed teaching in one national church
proved a failure. As we have already seen,
the disturbances in England in the seventeenth
century were chiefly caused by the conflict
between Laud and the Church of England on
the one hand, and the Puritans on the other.
When, in 1660, after the Great Rebellion and
the Commonwealth, the monarchy was re-
stored, the Church of England again obtained
the upper hand. Severe laws were now
passed against all who would not conform to
the teaching and worship of the Church of
172 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
England. Yet these harsh laws did not
destroy the nonconformists ; and congrega-
tions were then formed which in many cases
have continued until now.
Three religious bodies now existing in
Reading first arose in the great days of the
Puritans. The Congregational church in
Broad Street, formerly known as the Inde-
pendent chapel, was first established about
two hundred and fifty years ago. The Inde-
pendents, indeed, even trace their origin to
the days of Elizabeth, but it does not appear
that they existed in Reading before 1655.
The Independents were then very powerful
in the country, and among them was the Lord
Protector Cromwell himself. The first Inde-
pendent pastor in Reading seems to have been
Thomas Juice, who in 1662 was turned out
of his position at Worcester as a minister
of the Church of England because, like two
thousand other ministers, he could not accept
the principles of the Church of England as
laid down by the Act of Uniformity of that
year. A consequence of his courageous re-
fusal to accept what he believed to be wrong
was that he lost his income. He seems to
have come to Reading in 1665. The laws
pressed hardly upon him, and we are told
that on one occasion he had to hide from his
INDEPENDENTS, BAPTISTS, AND FRIENDS. 173
persecutors in a bark rick belonging to a
tanner in Mill Lane.
A Baptist Congregation of Reading seems
to have sprung up about the year 1640. The
Baptists used to meet for worship in Pigney
Lane, on the banks of a branch of the Kennet,
not far from the Bear Inn. From the back
door of the house where they met, a plank
could be thrown across the stream, so that,
if the services should be interrupted by the
officers of the law, the congregation might
make their escaj)e. Many of the Beading
Baptists were thrown into prison because of
their refusal to conform to the Church of
England. In 1688 John Bunyan, the famous
author of The Pilgrim's Progress, preached
at the Baptist meeting-house in Beading, his
last sermon but one. It is said that he had
preached in Beading more than once pre-
viously, and that, in order to avoid being
seized for breaking the law, he adopted the
disguise of a waggoner with a whip in his
hand.
Luring the same period a third religious
body arose in Beading. This was a branch
of the Society of Friends, sometimes called
Quakers. The founder of the Friends' Society
was George Box, and he tells us in his journal
that he came to Beading in 1655. He held a
174 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
meeting in an orchard, which he describes as
" a glorious meeting." In 1658 George Pox
stayed for ten weeks in Reading, exhorting
the people. He was here again several times
before his death, for he spent his life travel-
ling about the country preaching to meetings
of Friends. In 1670, when he came to
Heading, he found that most of the Friends
had been thrown into prison. He visited
them there, and only just escaped imprison-
ment himself.
It is interesting to remember that a very
famous man sometimes worshipped with the
Heading Friends. This was William Penn,
founder of the colony in North America called
after him, Pennsylvania. Penn spent the last
years of his life at Ruscombe, near Twyford,
a few miles from Reading.
XXX.
RICHARD ALD WORTH, FOUNDER OF THE
BLUE COAT SCHOOL, AND OTHER
BENEFACTORS.
In the seventeenth century Reading received
many gifts or benefactions. Some of them
were of much value, and the fact that there
were so many just at this time, may be taken
as proof of the thriving state in which the
cloth trade then was. Most of these gifts were
intended to help boys and girls who had lost
their parents, or the very poor, or the aged
and infirm. Usually the Corporation of
Reading were asked to see that the bene-
factions were properly used.
A chief benefactor to Reading was
Richard Aldworth, a native of Reading, who
died in 1646. He gave the Corporation
£4,000 in order to found a school for twenty
poor boys, who were to be taught, clothed,
lodged, and fed, free of charge. The boys
were to wear a blue coat and a blue cap, so
that they might " be known from other
175
176 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
children, and be noted for their behaviour."
Richard Aldworth also left money to pay for
a suitable school-master. The school was
opened in 1660 at the corner of Silver Street
and London Boad. We read that in March
of that year the Corporation bought blue
coats, blue caps, rugs, and bedding for the
boys. So arose the Blue Coat School, which
in later times received more gifts, and now
stands in the Bath Road.
Another noted benefactor was John Kend-
rick. John Kendrick was a clothier of
London, but a native of Beading. He died
in 1625, and he left the Corporation of
Beading the large sum of £7,500 to be
devoted chiefly to the building of a large
house for the employment of poor people
in the clothing trade. He also left money
which could be lent without charge for
three years to poor clothiers starting in
business in Beading. He made several other
gifts, including a sum to defray the cost of
holding a service in St. Mary's church every
morning at six o'clock. John Kendrick 's
house of work, known as the " Oracle," was
situated in Minster Street. It did not prove
altogether a success ; and as the clothing
trade declined in Beading it became less and
less useful. Yet the valuable property from
ALDWOETH AND OTHER BENEFACTORS. 177
which the income of Kendrick's charity was
derived, might still have been turned to
splendid account for the benefit of Reading
people, but for the fact that, owing to a
lawsuit, the Kendrick estates passed, in 1849,
into the hands of Christ's Hospital in London.
About the same time the old Oracle was
pulled down, and the only relics of it which
now remain are the carved wooden gates to
be seen in Tilehurst Road. The gates still
bear upon them the initials of John Kendrick.
A third benefactor of Reading was John
Blagrave, who, in 1611, not only left money
to improve the Market Place, and to build a
cloister by St. Lawrence's church, but also
provided that every year, on Good Friday,
between the hours of six and nine in the
morning, £10 should be paid to the Corpora-
tion in a new purse of leather. Before noon
on that day this money was to be thus spent.
Twenty nobles were to be given as a marriage
portion to a poor maid-servant, who could
show that she had served well for five years.
Every year there were to be three such can-
didates — one, if possible, out of each parish.
Every fifth year one of the three maids was
to be chosen from Southcote, where John
Blagrave had lived. The lucky maid was to
be chosen by lot, and the old custom was for
12
178 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
three pieces of paper to be put into a hat, and
for a little boy to be brought from the Free
School in order to distribute the lots in the
presence of the Mayor. John Blagrave also
arranged that after the casting of the lots a
sermon should be preached in St. Lawrence's
church. After the sermon sixty poor house-
holders of St. Lawrence's parish, for each of
whom he provided a gift, were to escort the
lucky maid to her home, while a peal was
rung upon the church bells. You may see
John Blagrave's monument in St. Lawrence's
church. In the Council Chamber at the
Town Hall are pictures of Richard Aldworth
and John Kendrick.
XXXI.
READING SKIRMISH OF 1688.
Prom 1685 to 1688 James II. was King.
His government proved so tyrannical, and
so hateful to the people because of its Roman
Catholic policy, that in 1688 some of the chief
men in England invited William, Prince of
Orange, who had married Mary, daughter
of James, to come over to England to deliver
the country. On November 5th, 1688, Wil-
liam landed at Torbay, in Devonshire. He
brought with him a large army, and as soon
as the soldiers were disembarked he began to
march through the west of England towards
London. James at first tried to resist him,
but his army melted away ; and William
marched steadily forward. The appearance
of his army excited great interest. At the
head of it rode a body of gentlemen upon
Flemish war-horses. These gentlemen wore
brass armour and were attended by negroes.
Then came Swedish horsemen in black armour
arid fur cloaks. After them came Swiss
180 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
infantry with fierce-looking whiskers, and
Dutch soldiers, and heavy brass cannon.
William himself rode in armonr upon a white
horse, and wore a white plume. The banner
which was carried with the army bore upon
it this inscription : The Protestant religion
and the liberties of England.
On Thursday, December 6th, the Prince of
Orange and a strong body of troops reached
Hungerforcl, on the borders of Berkshire and
Wiltshire. There it had been agreed that
commissioners, representing James, should
hold conference with the Prince. This con-
ference took place on December 8th, in a
large room at the Bear Inn. The Prince
himself lodged at Littlecote Hall, an ancient
manor house two miles away.
While the Prince of Orange was at Hunger-
ford, there took place at Reading the only
fighting which marked the course of the
famous and successful effort to deliver England
from Kins: James.
The army of King James was encamped on
Hounslow Heath, and an advance guard of
six hundred soldiers, horse and foot, belonging
to this army, was posted in Beading. These
men were Irishmen and Boman Catholics, and
at that time no person was more unpopular
in. England than one who was both an Irish-
READING SKIRMISH OF 1688. 181
man and a Papist. The people of Reading
beheld the arrival of this force with mingled
hatred and terror. It was even believed that
the Irish soldiers had received secret orders
to massacre the inhabitants and to plunder
the town on Sunday during service. It is
said that, so great was the alarm, that many
of the inhabitants ran away, and that, in order
to put a stop to this, the commander of the
Irish force posted sentries at all the chief
entrances to the town. Meanwhile, the people
of Heading managed to send a message to the
Prince at Hungerford, begging for deliverance
from the hands of the Irishmen. Two hun-
dred and fifty of William's soldiers were
thereupon sent forward to clear the Irishmen
out of Reading.
The Irish were warned of the approach of
their enemy and they took measures to defeat
its purpose. At the corner of Castle Street
a troop of horse was drawn up in the yard
of the Bear Inn. The walls of St. Mary's
churchyard were lined with musketeers. A
force t was posted in Broad Street and a sen-
tinel was stationed on the top of St. Mary's
tower in order that he might give warning
of the approach of the enemy. The main
body of the Irish force was drawn up in the
Market Place.
182 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
These plans were made in the belief that
the Dutchmen would enter the town by the
w r estern road. But the Dutchmen were
warned by the friendly inhabitants to ap-
proach from another direction. When still
some distance from Reading, they turned to
the left and marched along what was then
called Pangbourne Lane (now Oxford Road),
taking cover under the hedges. Thus they
entered the town unperceived, and at once fell
upon the Irish soldiers.
So sudden an onslaught threw the de-
fenders into confusion. Those in Broad Street
and those in Castle Street were driven pell-
mell into the Market Place. Their stampede
spread panic among their comrades. The
whole force took to its heels and fled towards
Twyford. As they fled through the streets,
the inhabitants fired upon them from the
windows. The Irish lost their colours and
fifty men. Only five of the Dutch soldiers
w r ere slain. Several of the dead were buried
in St. Giles's churchyard.
Such w f as the Reading Skirmish. Slight
as it was, it was the principal fighting in
connexion with William's expedition. It
was long celebrated in Reading. Every
year the bells of the churches rang out
in honour of the deliverance of the town,
READING SKIRMISH OF 1688. 183
and an old ballad told the story in these
lines : —
Five hundred Papishes came there
To make a final end
Of all the town in time of prayer ;
But (iod did them defend.
XXXII.
THE FIRST READING NEWSPAPER*
On Monday, July 8th, 1723, there appeared
in Reading the first number of a newspaper
which called itself the Reading Mercury, or
Weekly Entertainer. It consists of twelve
pages. The printed part of each page covers
a space not more than five and a quarter
inches wide by seven inches long. On the
outer page is a picture of the town of
Reading. The paper was to appear weekly,
and its cost was three-halfpence a copy.
Inside the first number is a letter from
the printers addressed to the Mayor and to
the public. The printers say that the art
of printing had spread far and wide, and
that it was now fitting for Heading to have
a newspaper of its own. They promise to
publish trustworthy news, " and when a
scarcity of news happens we shall divert you
with something merry." They then give a
short account of Berkshire and of Beading.
They say that Beading market is reputed
184
THE FIRST READING NEWSPAPER. 185
one of the best in England for all sorts of
grain and provisions, and that the meadows
within the borough, are noted for their fer-
tility. The rest of the first number consists
of scraps of news and a few advertisements.
We read that a prodigious whale had been
caught near Ehode Island ; that a Dutch
ship had been attacked by pirates ; that a
subterraneous fire had broken out in Kent ;
that a murder had taken place near Shrews-
bury ; that some one had won £10,000 in a
lottery ; that a man had been robbed by foot-
pads ; and that a Heading man had been killed
in a cart accident.
From 1723 up to the present time — more
than one hundred and eighty years — the
Reading Mercury has appeared every week,
and it is now one of the oldest newspapers
in the kingdom. To-day it is many scores
of times as large as it was at first. It owed
its origin to John Watts, who in 1723 was
Mayor of Heading. John Watts was a very
energetic man. He not only founded the
Heading Mercury, but he raised money in
order to make a better road between Caver-
sham and Heading, and he engaged in other
useful works for the benefit of the town.
He died in 1750, and was buried in St,
Lawrence's Church,
186 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
In later times taxes and duties caused news-
papers to become very expensive. In 1800,
for example, the Reading Mercury cost seven-
pence a copy. We are told that people used
sometimes to borrow a copy from a neighbour,
and pay a halfpenny or a penny for per-
mission to read it. The early volumes of
the Reading Mercury contain much valuable
information about old times in Reading and
the neighbourhood. During the first part
of the nineteenth century the editors of the
paper rendered most useful service by in-
teresting Reading people in great questions
such as the reform of Parliament, the introduc-
tion of railways, and also in questions nearer
home, such as the necessity to introduce into
the town a better system of drainage and
water supply. Eor nearly a hundred years
after 1723, there was no other newspaper
published in Reading.
XXXIII.
ROADS AND CANALS.
Compared with the stirring times of Round-
head and Cavalier, the eighteenth century in
Reading seems dull indeed. The Abbey was
now degraded into a quarry for building
materials. The cloth trade had long been
dwindling. No searching questions in re-
ligion or politics stirred the nation. Never-
theless, much quiet progress in Reading was
going on ; and in no direction was more
useful progress made than in respect of roads
and waterways.
In the reign of Queen Anne (1702 — 1714)
the approaches by road to Reading were very
bad. No one had troubled to mend them for
a long time, and often they were almost
impassable. Sometimes a carriage would stick
fast in the mire until additional horses were
brought to drag it forward. In 1714, there-
fore, the members of Parliament for Reading
managed to secure an Act of Parliament
whereby the great western road from Reading
187
188 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
to a point beyond Theale was put in good
order. Four years later, another Act made
it possible to repair and keep in order that
part of the London Road which lies between
Reading and Maidenhead Bridge. About the
same time Sir William Blackstone, member of
Parliament for Wallingford, carried through a
scheme by which a good road was made from
Oxford to Wallingford, and from Wallingford
to Reading. Henceforth, therefore, the best
route from Reading to Oxford was along the
road now called Oxford Road, and not, as in
former times, over Oaversham Bridge. In
1724, John Watts, Mayor of Reading, raised
a public fund, as we have already heard, in
order to improve the road between Reading
and Caversham Bridge. Hitherto, every time
the locks on the Thames to the westward
of Reading were opened, the roadway and
meadows between Caversham Bridge and
Reading had been flooded. In winter this
piece of road had often been impassable for
weeks together, and the Oxfordshire villagers
could not get to Reading market. About the
same date Caversham Bridge was repaired.
While Reading was thus improving its
approaches, roads were also being improved
elsewhere. The result was that, before the
eighteenth century closed, Reading became
ROADS AND CANALS. 189
linked with the chief towns of the kingdom
by a splendid system of smooth roads on which
mail-coaches conld rnn at a rapid pace.
During the same period much was done
to improve and extend the waterways of the
country. The trade of England was growing
fast, and it was necessary to find some cheap
and easy way of carrying heavy goods from
one part of the country to another. Even
if the roads had been much better than they
were, it would not have been possible to
carry all such goods in waggons, except at
very great expense. Therefore, men began
to turn their minds to the rivers, and
to plan and make artificial waterways or
canals. One of the earliest of these canals
was that connecting Reading and Newbury.
Reading and Newbury were already connected
by the river Kennet ; but the channel of the
Kennet was not in all parts deep or straight
enough for heavy barges. About 1723, there-
fore, parts of the Kennet channel between
Reading and Newbury were joined together
by a number of cuts or canals, and in this
manner a waterway, eighteen and a half
miles long, controlled by twenty locks, and
deep enough to carry barges of 110 tons
burden, was constructed at a cost of £81,000.
This was a great step, but between 1795 and
190 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
1810 this line of waterway was extended.
The Kennet and Avon Canal was then made
under the direction of the famous engineer,
John Bennie, at a cost of about a million
pounds. Its effect was to connect Reading
by means of an excellent waterway with
Bristol. Further, between 1800 and 1802 an
improvement was made in the Kennet channel
between High Bridge in Duke Street and the
Thames. The channel was made deeper and
straighter. Thus Beading could be reached
by water from Bristol on the west and from
London on the east. During the same period
canals were made from Oxford to Birming-
ham, and from Lechlade, the point at which
the Thames ceases to be navigable, to the
Severn. These new waterways placed Bead-
ing in direct communication with the Mid-
lands and South Wales.
The trade of Beading gained much by these
improvements. Beading is the chief town in
a large district thickly covered with villages
and farms. Prom the date of these improve-
ments it became an important centre of ex-
port and import trade. Prom the Kennet
wharves great quantities of flour, malt,
timber, cheese, and wool were despatched in
barges to London and other markets ; while
to the same wharves and by the same
ROADS AND CANALS.
191
waterways iron and hardware were brought
from Birmingham, stone from Bath, coal from
Somerset and Wales, pottery from Stafford-
shire, and groceries from London. Along the
roads also came more and more traffic. By
day and by night, coaches rattled through the
APPROACHES TO READING BY
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streets. Great inns, like the Crown, the Bear,
and the King's Arms on Castle Hill, sprang
into note as coaching inns. The population,
which during most of the eighteenth century
had hardly grown at all, began at the close
to grow fast. It is believed that in 1700 the
number of people in Beading was about 7,690.
In 1801, when the first official census was
192 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
held, the number was returned as 9,421.
But within the next ten years (1801 — 1811)
there occurred an increase almost as large as
the total increase during the previous century.
There is no doubt that the population of the
town now began to grow fast because of
the better roads and new waterways which
had made Reading into an excellent centre
for trade.
XXXIV.
THE GREAT READING FAIRS.
Every year four fairs were held in Heading.
Candlemas Pair (February 2nd), May Fair
(May 1st), and St. James's Pair (July 25th),
were chiefly cattle fairs. Prom all parts of
the country droves of horses and oxen arrived
at Reading, and dealers carried on brisk
business. So numerous were the cattle that,
in 1840, it was found necessary to hold St.
James's Pair, not in Friar Street and Broad
Street as hitherto, but in the Forbury. The
fourth fair was the Michaelmas Cheese Fair
(September 25th). This fair was originally
for the sale of hops and serges as well as of
cheese, and formerly it used to be held in the
old Cheese Row. As early as 1697, however,
it was necessary to move it to the Forbury.
Between 1750 and 1850, owing to the im-
proved roads and waterways, and owing to
the central position of Reading, the fair
became one of the principal cheese fairs in
the country. From the dairy farms of
193 13
194 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Gloucestershire, Somerset, Wiltshire, and
Dorset, hundreds of waggons and barges
brought cheese to Reading. The carters
often took hack with them loads of birch
brooms, which they sold in the towns and
villages as they went home. The Cheese Pair
seems to have reached its highest note about
the end of the eighteenth century. In 1795
it was recorded that 1,200 tons of cheese were
offered for sale in the Forbury. We may say
that this amount of cheese would be worth
£60,000. During the next fifty years the
amount of cheese brought to the fair each
year varied from 500 to 1,000 tons. The
opening of railways seems to have caused the
amount of cheese shown in the Forbury to
diminish, for the custom arose of leaving it
unloaded in the trucks, and of selling it by
sample.
Michaelmas Fair brought together a multi-
tude of people. It was a fair at which ser-
vants were hired. Hundreds of farm servants,
both men and women — shepherds, waggoners,
dairymaids, milkmen, ploughmen, woodmen,
and others — came to the fair to seek employ-
ment, or a change of masters. They stood in
long lines while the farmers went up and
down, picking and choosing among them.
Cattle from Scotland, ponies from the Shetland
THE GREAT READING FAIRS. 195
Islands, from the New Forest, or from Wales,
were also to be seen, and there were dealers,
cheap-jacks, and showmen of all kinds. The
Forbury was crowded, not only with stands
of cheese, bnt with stalls, booths, swings,
roundabouts, peepshows, wild beasts in cages,
and other wonders. For many years the fair
used to be visited by Wombwell's Menagerie.
Pickpockets and sharpers of all kinds mingled
with the crowd, and usually reaped a good
harvest.
XXXV.
PRISONS AND PUNISHMENTS A
CENTURY AGO.
Until about the middle of the nineteenth
century, any kind of building was thought
good enough for a prison, and no punishment
was too severe to inflict on those who had
broken the law. John Howard, the famous
prison reformer, visited the Heading prisons
four times between 1773 and 1779. At that
time the county gaol stood at the foot of
Castle Street, and it was in a very bad con-
dition. In 1793 the gaol was rebuilt in the
Eorbury, and made large enough to hold 121
prisoners. The Reading gaol was one of the
first to introduce the tread-mill as a form of
punishment, and it became the custom for
people to go and watch prisoners undergoing
their painful and useless labour of treading
the mill. This gaol was in its turn con-
demned, and the present gaol Avas opened in
the year 1844.
John Howard also visited the town prison,
PRISONS AND PUNISHMENTS A CENTURY AGO. 197
which at that time was the old church of the
Grey Friars. He found it filthy and ruinous,
without any court for exercise, and without
water. There was no means of warming it,
there was no proper drainage, and the place
was overrun by rats. One of the cells was
also used as a stable. There was no infirmary
or sick-room, and there was no religious in-
struction or care given to the prisoners. Yet
in 1829 the Mayor of Reading said the prison
was good enough for its purpose. Public
opinion, however, iioav insisted on a change,
and soon afterwards this prison was closed.
A century ago there were no policemen
in Reading. One or two watchmen with
lanterns used to pace the streets at night,
calling out the hour, and what the weather
was. The watchmen were so few that they
were quite unable to keep the town in good
order. Robberies and begging, street-fighting
and other disorders were frequent. It was
largely because there were no police, and
because messages travelled along the roads so
slowly, that highway robberies were so com-
mon. A highwayman upon a fast horse was
not easily caught. There are many instances
of coaches and travellers being stopped and
robbed, even within sight of Reading. In
1814, bank-notes worth £6,000 were stolen
198 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
from a coach on its way froni London to
Reading. In 1817 a Catholic clergyman,
returning from Wallingford to Reading with
a sum of money in his jiocket, was robbed
and murdered in Oxford Road, not far from
where the present barracks stand.
Punishments for such crimes were severe.
Men were transported for seven years for
trifling thefts, such as stealing a pair of
shoes or a silk handkerchief. They were
hanged, not only for wilful murder, but for"
stealing sheep, or for burglary, or robbery on
the highway. Thus, in 1800, eight men were
sentenced to death at Reading Assizes, but
only one of them had committed murder.
Until 1793, those who were condemned to
death at Reading were hanged on Gallows
Tree Common, at Lower Erleigh. The cart in
which the j)risoner rode, used to stop at a
tavern in Silver Street, and the hangman
and his victim used to drink together. In
later years executions took place in public,
at the county gaol, and large crowds used to
gather to see the death sentence carried out.
The old punishments of the pillory, stocks,
and whipping-post were still occasionally used
at the beginning of the nineteenth century.
In 1812, for example, a Reading tradesman
was seen to purchase two baskets of eggs in
PRISONS AND PUNISHMENTS A CENTURY AGO. 199
order to pelt a man, who had heen put in the
pillory in the Market Place. Thieves and
beggars were flogged in the Market Place as
late as 1819. About the same date, a wretched
man, whose only offence was that he had stolen
a loaf, was flogged at the cart's tail from
the prison in Priar Street to his house in
Silver Street. Such was the brutality of his
punishment that he never recovered, or left
his house again.
In 1830 and 1831, Reading gaol was crowded
with country labourers, accused of burning
the farmers' stacks of corn in revenge for the
introduction of steam threshing machines.
The men feared that these machines would
cause less labour to be wanted. Ni^ht after
night, Reading people used to see from the
Porbury the red glare of fires in the villages
around. A guard of soldiers was sent from
Windsor to protect the town. When the
prisoners, 138 in number, were brought to
trial it was found that 76 of them could
neither read nor write. Many of them were
imprisoned ; some were transported ; three
were condemned to death. Through the
efforts of two members of the Society of
Priends in Reading, two of these three were
reprieved. The third was hanged at Reading.
XXXVI.
THE FIRST PUBLIC ELEMENTARY
SCHOOLS-
Before 1810 there were no public week-day
schools for Heading children. Some years
earlier Sunday Schools had been started in
connexion with churches and chapels, and at
first these Sunday Schools taught reading and
writing. It was felt, however, that this was
not enough, and that great numbers of
children were growing up in ignorance.
Therefore, in 1810, a new school for week-
day teaching was built in Southampton Street.
It was known as the Lancasterian or British
School, because it was one of the schools of
the British and Foreign School Society, which
arose in London in 1808 in order to he]p
Joseph Lancaster, a noble-hearted Quaker, in
his efforts to educate poor children. Within
two years there were nearly 300 boys in
attendance. On June 4th, 1812, all the boys
were paraded in the Market Place in honour
of the birthday of King George III. Each
200
THE FIRST PUBLIC ELEMENTARY SCHOOLS. 201
scholar received a cake. In 1818 accommo-
dation was provided for girls as Avell as boys.
In 1821 it was stated that this school had
educated nearly 2,000 boys.
In 1811, a year after the foundation of the
Lancasterian School, a branch of the National
Society for promoting the education of the
poor in the principles of the Church of
England, was formed in Heading. This re-
sulted in the opening, in 1813, of a second
school for boys and girls from the whole town.
The school was held "in a large room which
had formerly been the refectory (or dining
hall) in the Abbey."
These schools were very inferior in their
buildings and equipment to the schools of the
present day, but they mark a great advance
in the history of public education in Heading.
From that time to this, the work of providing
education for all classes has gone steadily
forward, and the advantages which every
child possesses to-day are therefore the result
of nearly a hundred years of effort and
sacrifice.
XXXVII.
HOW THE REFORM ACT OF 1832 WAS
CELEBRATED.
In 1832, after the hardest political struggle
known for generations, the great measure for
reforming the House of Commons, and for
making it more representative of the nation,
was at last passed into law. The struggle
had been long and exciting. In Reading, as
elsewhere, its course was marked by public
meetings and stirring incidents. Express
horsemen and coaches hastened continually
along the road from London with news of the
progress of the Eill in Parliament. Every
step in its progress was celebrated by the
ringing of church bells and by the cheering
of crowds ; while on one occasion, when it
seemed as if the Bill would be lost, the
Reading Mercury appeared with a black
border, and many tradesmen refused to pay
their taxes. London newspapers with full
reports of the debates in Parliament were
carried by express riders to Reading, arriving
£02
THE REFORM ACT OF 1832. 203
about six o'clock in the morning. Handbills
containing a summary of the debate were
quickly printed at the office of the Reading
Mercury. As many as three thousand of
these bills would be distributed in one morn-
ing. At last, on June 7th, 1832, the Reform
Bill became law. Nothing now remained but
to celebrate the hard-won victory of liberty
and justice.
Many suggestions were made, but it was
at length agreed that the people of Reading
should dine together in the streets on July 18th.
At dawn on that clay there was a salute of
cannon from the Eorbury ; drums began to
beat and bells to ring. Throughout the town
the houses were decorated with laurel, and
thousands of strangers flocked in from the
country round. At three o'clock the company
sat down to dinner at 116 tables, each fifty
feet long, and loaded with food and decorations.
These tables stretched along London Street,
Duke Street, King Street, Minster Street,
Broad Street, Friar Street, and the Market
Place. Several parties dined on barges which
had been dragged into the streets on waggons
or rollers. Besides those seated at the tables,
nearly 4,000 others joined in the feast. At
five o'clock the whole company moved to the
Porbury, and the evening passed in sports
204 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
and amusements. Such was the good order
on this joyful occasion, that on the morrow
there were no complaints to bring before
the magistrates. " All passed off well," said
one who was present ; " it was a glorious
sight to see so many people happy."
XXXVIII.
THE OPENING OF THE GREAT WESTERN
RAILWAY.
On September 30th, 1833, there appeared
in the Reading Mercury a long prospectus
or account of a new railway, to be called
the Great Western Railway, which it was
proposed to construct between London and
Bristol. The prospectus stated that the
construction of this railway would occupy
four or five years, and that it would cost
nearly three million pounds. The Mercury
was in favour of this important scheme, but
there were many who opposed it. Some
people thought that as London and Bristol
were so far apart, and that as they were rival
ports, it would be hardly possible for much
traffic to be carried on between them. The
railway, these people said, would only fill the
pockets of the men who were paid to make
it, and must end in failure. Meetings in
Beading were held both for and against the
scheme. After a long struggle, an Act of
205
206 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Parliament, authorising the formation of the
railway, was passed in 1835. The news was
received in Reading with rejoicing.
Work was at once begun. Early in 1837
the long cutting through the high ground
near Sonning was being made. The men
worked by night by the light of coach-lamps,
as well as by clay. In June, 1838, the rail-
way w r as opened from London to Maidenhead.
Keen interest was taken by the people in the
appearance of the trains. The carriages were
described as "immense moving houses," and
the pace of the trains, which reached twenty-
eight miles an hour, caused amazement. It
became common for the coaches that ran from
Bristol through Heading to London to stop at
Maidenhead on their way to London. There
the horses were taken out, and the coaches
were placed on railway trucks, and in this
manner, with the passengers still inside them,
they proceeded by railway to London. Thus
they managed to shorten the journey from
Reading to London by about two hours.
In June, 1839, the line was opened as far
as Twyford. In July the station at Heading
was being built. This first railway station
at Reading cost £12,000. At last, on March
30th, 1840, the line was opened to Reading.
This notable day was marked by special
OPENING OF THE GREAT WESTERN RAILWAY. 207
celebrations. An immense number of people
came from the neighbourhood to see the first
train arrive. Seats for spectators were placed
on the station platform, and thousands of
people stood in the Eorbury and on Forbury
Hill. The fastest trip made on the first day
from London to Reading occupied one hour
and five minutes. The trains were met by
omnibuses from the Crown and the Bear Inns.
In 1844 the Great Western Hotel was opened
in order to supply the needs of railway pas-
sengers. Prom this time forward the old
coaching inns on the western and southern
sides of Heading began to lose importance,
for the coaches soon ceased to run, and they
were too far from the station to be able to
profit by the railway traffic. In 1841 the
Great Western Railway was completed as far
as Bristol.
XXXIX.
THE RISE OF NEW INDUSTRIES-
Por four centuries, from about 1250 to 1650,
the making of cloth was the chief industry in
Reading. But the cloth trade was ruined by
the Civil War of the seventeenth century, and
though much sail-cloth was made in Beading
between 1700 and 1800, yet the old industry
never recovered. After 1800 hardly a trace
of it remained. Por some time the only
product for which Beading was specially
noted was Cocks' Reading Sauce, first made
more than a hundred years ago. In later
times Beading has been noted for its ales, its
iron works, and of recent years for its print-
ing works. But the two products for which
Beading is noAV known throughout the world
are seeds and biscuits.
The seed business was taken up by the
family of Sutton early in the nineteenth
century. At that time it was very difficult
for farmers and gardeners to get seeds of good
quality, which could be trusted to grow into
208
THE RISE OF NEW INDUSTRIES. 209
healthy plants of the right sort. Many per-
sons who professed to sell pure seeds knew
nothing abont their quality or what they
wonld produce, and often mixed seeds that
were good with seeds that were worthless.
Martin Hope Sutton (1815—1901) when still
a lad took a great interest in all that had to
do with plants and grasses and seeds. In the
days before railways, he made long journeys
on foot in order to see the best-managed
gardens. It was he who planted the first
bed of tulips ever seen in Heading. In 1837,
at the age of twenty-two, he began business
as a seed-merchant. His father, John Sutton,
joined him, and thus the firm Avas first known
as John Sutton & Son.
The new business prospered under the
skilful management of Martin Hope Sutton
and his brother Alfred, who joined him in
1843. When, in 1847, famine raged in Ireland,
because of the failure of the potato crop, the
Suttons were able to advise the Government
what measures to adopt. With their aid,
great quantities of the seeds of turnip, beet,
cabbage, and other quickly growing vegetables,
were sent over to Ireland. About the same
date the penny post was introduced, and
railways were being made in all directions.
The Suttons were quick to see that by
14
210 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
undertaking to forward seeds carriage free by
post and rail, they would attract customers, not
only from Reading and the neighbourhood,
but from all over the country. Prom this
time their business grew by leaps and bounds.
Their illustrated catalogues of seeds, flowers,
and vegetables became known not only
throughout Britain but throughout the world.
They spared no pains to sell only the best
and purest seeds ; and, by thousands of ex-
periments, they found out the best ways of
growing them and of securing new varieties
of vegetables and flowers. Every farmer and
gardener in Britain has gained by these
labours.
The stores, order rooms, and offices of the
firm noAY occupy nearly seven acres of
ground. Within the buildings is a private
post-office, through which as many as 15,000
letters and parcels have been sent to customers
in one day. Nothing but the most careful
order and system could enable the huge
amount of daily business to be accomplished
without confusion. Orders may range from
a hundred tons of potato tubers to a tiny
packet, hardly bigger than a pin's head, of
some rare seed worth ten times its weight
in gold. Eighty clerks are kept busy in
booking the orders which pour in by post,
THE RISE OF NEW INDUSTRIES. 211
telegraph, and telephone. On the east side
of Heading, along the Great Western Hail-
way, the firm possesses large grounds and
glass houses for testing seeds by actual
growth and for making other experiments.
These experiments are conducted with great
care, and day by day the progress of the
seedlings is recorded.
The Biscuit Factory, which to-day is of so
vast a size, grew from small beginnings. It
was in 1841 that George Palmer came to
Heading and joined Thomas Huntley in
business. For some years, all the biscuits
they sold were made by hand. In 1846
wheat became much cheaper owing to the
removal of duties on corn. Cheap corn and
the invention of clever machinery by George
Palmer, made it possible to produce biscuits
in large quantities and at a low price. Yet
many years passed before the business of the
firm grew to anything like its present size.
Perseverance and skilful management, and
constant attention to the quality of the
biscuits, steadily brought their reward. In
1851 the firm employed 200 people ; in 1862
it employed 400. By 1867 the number had
risen to 996. Ten years later it had multiplied
threefold, and at the present time the total is
more than 6,000. Thomas Huntley died in
212 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
1857, but George Palmer had already been
joined by his brothers Samuel and William
Isaac, and the progress of the business never
paused.
Every one who lives in Reading has often
heard of the gigantic work carried on at the
Biscuit Factory. The factory buildings and
the railways which bring the enormous
supplies of butter, milk, eggs, flour, cocoanuts,
and other materials, cover twenty-four acres
of ground. Reading biscuits are sent in vast
quantities to every part of the civilised world,
and they find their way even to remote
districts of Asia, Africa, and America, peopled
only by wild tribes. The growth of the
Biscuit Factory and the industries connected
Avith it, such as the manufacture of tins, has
been the chief reason for the astonishing
increase in the population of Beading during
the last fifty years.
Martin Hope Sutton, George Palmer, and
William Isaac Palmer are noted in the
annals of Beading, not only as men of
wonderful business energy but as liberal
benefactors. They believed it to be their
duty to help those who were less fortunate
than themselves ; and with this aim they
not only bestowed great gifts, but they gave
also their time and energy, For their
THE RISE OF NEW INDUSTRIES. 213
benevolence and public spirit, of which so
many proofs exist in Reading to-day, the
founders of the great firms connected with
seeds and biscuits will always be held in
honour.
XL.
THE GREAT CHANGE*
The nineteenth century witnessed wonderful
changes in Britain and in all civilised coun-
tries. The steam engine, the railway, the
telegraph, the employment of new knowledge
in the service of man, have quite changed
the conditions of life. Prom a country of
farmers, Britain has become a country of
manufacturers. Population has grown enor-
mously. Never before in the life of mankind
have changes so great come so swiftly. What,
in the case of Beading, have these changes
really meant ?
A* The Old Times*
In 1801 Beading was not much bigger in
appearance than it was in 1610. Most of the
houses lay, as in 1610, within the triangle
formed by (1) Briar Street, (2) the Market
Place, Duke Street, London Street, and Silver
Street, (3) Southampton Street, Bridge Street,
and St. Marv's Butts. There were no suburbs.
The great change. 215
The corner by the Friary was still called Toivn
End. Caversham was a little village separated
from Reading by meadows. Farm lands
bordered Oxford Road and London Road.
Queen's Road and King's Road had not been
made. Cattle grazed on the sites of the
Biscuit Factory and the Gas Works. The
yiew from Forbury Hill was still unspoilt
by railway banks. Some streets, such as
London Street, were wide and pleasant ; but
there were many narrow and unhealthy courts
and alleys. Parts of Broad Street and St.
Mary's Butts were so narrow, owing to blocks
of houses in the middle of the street, that two
carriages could not pass abreast. The ground
now occupied by the Forbury Gardens was
a waste where rubbish was shot. The only
lofty buildings in the town were the three
old churches, the Water Tower in Mill Lane,
the Oracle in Minster Street, and the County
Gaol in the Forbury. # The streets were lined
with quaint old houses with gabled fronts.
Seen from a distance, the little town seemed
to repose beneath its churches among the
meadows. In 1801 it contained fewer than
10,000 people, and was nothing more than an
old-fashioned country town, noted for its
* The Water Tower and the Oracle have been pulled
down. The Gaol has been rebuilt.
216 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
markets and fairs. On market days it was
thronged with white - smocked countrymen,
whose broad-wheeled carts and waggons were
backed up against the houses in the Market
Place.
The coach journey from Reading to London
took five or six hours. Those who rode inside
had to pay twelve or sixteen shillings ; out-
side fares were from six to ten shillings.
Before 1839 there was no official daily post
between Reading and London. A letter
posted in Reading at nine on Monday morn-
ing would not reach Birmingham till nine on
Wednesday morning. Before 1825 there was
no post at all between Reading and such near
places as Henley. The institution of the
penny post in January, 1811, caused the
number of letters delivered in Reading to
leap from 3,800 to 10,000 a month. Yet at
this time there were only four or five post-
men, and their uniforms were presented to
them by public subscription. The first steam
barge ever seen in Reading passed along the
Kennet in 1813, and the first steam-driven,
wheeled vehicle seen in Reading was a wag-
gon which passed through the town in 1829.
There was no railway till 1810.
Until 1835 the people of Reading had no
share in electing members of the Corporation.
THE GKEAT CHANGE. 217
The Corporation themselves filled any vacant
places in their number, and carried on their
business in private. It cannot be said that
the town was well managed. The streets
were badly paved and dirty. People often
tripped over heaps of rubbish into pools of
filthy water. Dust flew in clouds, for there
were no water-carts. In the winter season,
the streets were dimly lighted by 218 oil
lamps, except on the four nights before and
the one night after a full moon. Gas was
first used in the streets in 1819. The supply
of water was wretched. A machine in Mill
Lane pumped up water out of the Kennet
into a large tank in Broad Street. Thence
it was taken in mains made of hollow elm
trees,* and from these mains, leaden pipes
branched off to some of the houses. The
water was not filtered. Sometimes it was
the colour of chocolate, and sometimes fish
swam up the pipes and stuck there. Many
people had no water supply except wells,
which often lay near to cesspools. Some
improvements in the water supply were made
about 1820 ; but it was many years before the
town obtained a regular supply of juire water.
If a fire broke out, the alarm was given
* An example of these wooden pipes is preserved in the
Reading Museum.
218 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
by ringing the church bells and by beating
drums. Each parish had its own hand-
worked fire-engine. This engine was usually
out of order, always locked up, and could never
be got in a hurry. In order to obtain water
with which to put out the fire, a hole had to
be cut in one of the wooden mains and part of
the street flooded. Buckets were then filled
and passed from hand to hand to the engine.
The town was very unhealthy. Over-
crowding, bad water, and bad drainage always
produce illness. The burial grounds attached
to the churches were so full, that new graves
had to be made in the paths. There was no
cemetery till 1843. There was no proper
drainage system. As a rule the drainage of
each house ran into a deep pit behind it. In
1849 it was said that there were 2,700 of these
foul pits, or cesspools. The ground became
soaked with sewage, and the drinking wells
were fouled. In hot weather horrible smells
poisoned the air. Por years before 1850, fever
was hardly ever absent from Heading . At
last the Public Health Act, passed by Parlia-
ment in 1848, was applied to Reading, and
from that time these evils began to abate.
Before 1839 there was no hospital. There
was, however, a dispensary, and there were
other agencies for helping people in distress.
The great change. 219
The number of places of worship was, of
course, much smaller than it is to-day. The
severe laws against nonconformists had not
yet all been removed, and feeling ran high on
this subject. The pioneer of Sunday Schools
in Reading seems to have been William
Bromley Cadogan, a noted vicar of St. Giles's
church (1774 — 1797). The pioneer of tem-
perance in Reading seems to have been John
Howard Hinton, Baptist minister in Beading
(1820 — 1837). Owing to the presence at the
King's Arms Inn, on Castle Hill, of many
French priests, who had fled from the perils
of the great revolution in Prance, a Roman
Catholic congregation was formed in Reading
about the end of the eighteenth century.
There was much strictness about the obser-
vance of Sunday.
Parliamentary elections were usually scenes
of disorder. Polling might go on for eight
days. Voting took place in public, and there
was much bribery and unfairness. In one
instance a man received £50 for his vote. In
another case two landlords threatened to turn
out of house and home any tenant of theirs
who did not vote as they wished. Pighting
often took place in the streets. Each side
supplied strong beer to its supporters ; the
barrels stood open in the street. Sometimes
220 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
voters were kept drunk until they should be
wanted. Much trouble and expense were
lavished on processions. Shouting mobs, led
by women carrying garlands, paraded the
town, dragging the candidate in his carriage.
The elected candidates were carried round
the town in chairs on the shoulders of their
supporters, and they were expected to throw
silver among the crowd. The Mayor perhaps
was glad when an election was safely over.
On one occasion as he was crossing High
Bridge some one tapped him on the shoulder.
When he looked round, a person on the other
side of him fired off a blunderbuss close to
his ear.
We have already heard that there were no
public elementary schools in Reading before
1810. Reading School, however, was very
famous under Dr. Valpy, who was head
master for fifty years (1780—1830). Then
there were the Elue Coat School and the
Green Girls' School, and a few private schools.
People were beginning to read more, and es-
pecially to take interest in science; but pro-
gress was slow, and the number of such
persons was yet small. Rooks were few and
not cheap. Lectures were given occasionally,
but they were not always very instructive.
There was no free library, or reading room,
THE GREAT CHANGE. 221
or museum, though there were some private
libraries for well-to-do peoj^le. The people
generally were very ignorant. Gradually,
however, the desire for education spread. In
1840 a Mechanics' Institution was formed,
and it deserves honour as the pioneer of
popular education in Reading. It occupied
the stone building with large columns, noAv
a place of worship, in London Street. Every
winter it provided a programme of lectures
and classes in the evenings. Ey 1850 the
time had passed away when it could be said
with truth, that the only book studied in
Reading, besides the Bible, was Old Moore's
Almanac. It should be mentioned that
Reading people took much interest in music,
and that from time to time musical festivals,
at which the works of great composers like
Handel were performed, were held in the
Town Hall, or in St. Lawrence's church.
Times about 1800 were hard for the poor.
From 1809 to 1815 the price of the gallon
loaf in Reading varied from Is. 7d. to 3s. 2d.
During the year 1812, it never cost less than
2s. 6d. Meat was cheaper. Tea cost, in 1811,
from 7s. to Us. a pound. Every one drank
beer. Candles, in 1813, cost 15s. 6d. a dozen.
Coals fetched extravagant prices whenever
the waterways were frozen. Erom Christmas
222 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
Day, 1813, to March, 1814, no coals reached
Reading ; the distress was terrible, and the
streets were filled with starving people.
There were no savings banks, no benefit
societies, no co-operative stores. Much money
was spent in charity, but without proper care-
fulness. Large sums were spent by the
parishes in poor relief, but it was observed
that those who really deserved help seldom
got it. Each parish had its own poorhouse.
The poorhouses were managed in a wasteful,
disorderly way, and were the resort of idle
and vicious people who were allowed to
loaf away their days, doing nothing. This
bad system continued till 1834, when the
English Poor Laws were reformed. The first
Board of Guardians in Reading was elected
in 1835.
During the great wars with Erance (1793
— 1815) soldiers were continually in Heading.
Trooj)s were quartered in the town ; five
public-houses in London Street were used as
recruiting stations. There were two bodies
of local Volunteers. Magazines of j^owder
were also kept at Reading ; military music
enlivened the streets ; and, at night, it some-
times happened that knockers were wrenched
off doors, and watchmen knocked down, by a
party of officers going home after revelry,
THE GREAT CHANGE. 223
One day, early in 1815, there was a scene in
London Street which was long remembered.
At dawn bugles rang out and householders
looked forth from their windows. They saw
the street lined with soldiers, some in uniform
and some not. These men were destined to
fight at Waterloo. A year previously they
had been disbanded, but were now hastily
called from their homes, because the news
had come that Napoleon had escaped from
Elba.
Yet, perhaps, the prisoners at Reading
showed most clearly the magnitude of those
wars. These prisoners of war represented six
nations — Dutchmen, Norwegians, Americans,
French, Germans, and Danes. The towns-
people did what they could to lighten the
dulness of their captivity. They bought their
knick-knacks, carved out of mutton bones ;
a leading doctor attended the Danes without
charge ; a kindly Quaker befriended the
Frenchmen ; and, at the close of the war, a
fund was raised to help them to return to
their homes. Some of the prisoners had been
in Heading so long that many townsmen were
sorry when they left.
There were not so many amusements then
as now. There was no cycling, tennis, cro-
quet, or golf. Cricket and football were
224 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
played a little, but only in a rough-and-ready
way. Few people cared to bathe in the river,
and such a thing as a rowing-boat or pleasure-
boat was hardly ever seen. There were then,
however, some sports which happily have since
disappeared. In 1815 people went from
Heading to see a bull baited by dogs at
Wokingham ; when darkness fell, the crowd
fought among themselves. In 1823 there was
a prize-fight at Ruscombe. The fight lasted
an hour and a half, and the beaten man was
nearly battered to pieces. A clergyman was
among the spectators.
Village Revels were often held, when back-
sword and wrestling were the chief sports.
In 1827 a Maying took place in Whitley
Wood. A bower of green branches was built,
and a game of cricket was played for ribbons.
Until 1815. Reading Races were held every
year on Bulmershe Heath. Archery was
often practised. In the winter season there
were plays at the theatre, and concerts, balls,
and assemblies at the Town Hall. It was
important to select a moonlight evening for
one of these parties. Ladies were carried to
and from evening parties in sedan chairs.
Travelling showmen often passed through
Reading. One exhibited the skeleton of a
whale ; another exhibited Napoleon's carriage,
THE GREAT CHANGE. 225
taken at Waterloo. Sometimes " Mr. Green,"
or somebody else, went np in a balloon.
Such were the old times in Reading. The
town was small, old-fashioned, and unhealthy.
The coaches and posts were, according to our
ideas, slow and expensive. The town was
badly lighted, badly supplied with water, and
badly drained. There was much religious
effort, but also a good deal of religious strife.
There was increasing interest in politics, but
Parliamentary elections were often disgrace-
fully conducted. There were few schools and
much ignorance. Every winter there was
grievous distress among the poor, and no one
understood how to deal with it. The town was
kept lively by the coming and going of soldiers
and of prisoners of war, and by the ringing of
bells to celebrate the victories of our nation by
land and sea. There were fewer amusements,
but some of those practised were more brutal
than any which exist now.
People took life as it came in a stolid,
cheerful sort of way, and they were not in a
hurry. The pace of life was quieter, and if
this meant that more evils were tolerated,
it also meant that people were less driven
and anxious, and had more time to turn
things over in their minds than they have
now. Our great-grandparents had strong
15
226 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
views about right and wrong, and they clung
to old customs with obstinacy. Their stubborn
character carried them through harder times,
and greater dangers from foreign foes, than
any their descendants have known.
XLI.
THE GREAT CHANGE {continued).
B- The New Times*
Most of us have witnessed at Reading station
the approach, at full speed, of a westward-
hound express. A sudden cry of " stand
back " runs along the platform. Par down
the shining rails, the dark mass of the express
looms bigger and bigger. The shoulders of
the giant engine sway as it rushes onward,
rending the air with its warning scream.
In a thunder of smoke and wind and sound,
the train sweeps by. It flies into the distance,
and is gone.
The express speaks to us of the new age
into which Britain has passed. It tells of
new knowledge. It tells of forces of nature,
harnessed by science to the service of man.
It tells of the swifter pace of life, and of
factories and cities, of travel, of commerce
reaching over the world. It tells of
the break-up for ever of the old secluded
life of village and country town in which
228 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
men were content to live and die as
their fathers had done before them. The
express is a symbol of a new age and a
new life.
There are now about eight times as many
people in Beading as there were in 1801.
The growth is shown by the census records : —
1801 . ... 9,421
1811
10,827
1821
12,867
1831
15,950
1841
19,074
1851
21,456
1861
25,876
1871
32,323
1881
42,056
1891
60,054
1901
72,217
Thus in the last quarter of a century the
population has nearly doubled. Eeading is
fast becoming a big town, chiefly because of
the growth of new industries and of its
excellent railway approaches. The presence
of so many more people has, of course,
changed the appearance of the town. Scores
of new streets and roads have sprung up
outside the ancient limits. New places of
THE GREAT CHANGE. 229
worship, public buildings, and factories have
arisen. Old shops and houses have been
replaced by new and bigger ones. Old streets
have been widened. The town has become
so far spread that we must have cabs and
trams to carry us from one part to another.
A person who knew Reading in 1800 would
hardly recognise it to-day.
Not only is Reading much bigger, but the
people in it lead different lives and have
different thoughts from their great- grand-
parents. This is how the great change has
done most. Let us try to trace its work
in our own town.
I. People are more humane. — Nowadays
we do not enjoy public exhibitions of pain
and suffering. We forbid them as degrading.
Therefore, murderers are no longer hanged
in public ; lawbreakers are not flogged in
the streets, nor stoned in the pillory ; bull-
baitings, cock-fights, and prize-fights have
been stopped. We no longer put a man to
death because he is a thief ; and we are more
sensitive to suffering in any form. Dogs
may not be used to drag carts, and persons
who are cruel to children or to animals are
punished by law. Sick and injured persons
are no longer left without nurses, doctors, and
hospitals. No decent person would now think
230 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
it amusing; to go with a crowd to watch
prisoners working the treadmill. Prisons,
however disagreeable, are no longer filthy
dens of disease and neglect. In all these
things people have become more thoughtful
for themselves and others. We have learned
that even if we would be kind we must use
thought and method. It is not kind to fling
away money and food recklessly in times of
distress, or to allow idle and vicious people
to waste their days in a disorderly poorhouse,
or to allow children to grow up in such
surroundings. The terrible problems of
modern poverty cannot thus be solved, and
there is ground for hope in the fact that the
nation thinks and feels more about suffering,
and how best to avoid or diminish it, than it
did formerly,
II. JPeople understand better the laws of
health.— This is due to the teachings of
science and of the doctors. For centuries the
English people, like other peoples, paid
heavily in disease and death for neglect of
the laws of health. We now know why it is
not safe to drink dirty water, to do without
drains and scavengers, to live without proper
ventilation and light, to bury the dead in
churchyards already overcrowded. It is now
many years since, in Heading, these gross evils
THE GREAT CHANGE. 231
were remedied. Nor is it now lawful to build
narrow alleys, and courts, and streets ; or to
build cottages as small and unhealthy as some
of those of old days. Factories and workshops
must satisfy rules ensuring conditions of
health and safety. We now understand
the advantages of fresh air and exercise.
Hundreds of pleasure-boats are to be seen
upon the Thames. Swimming, rowing,
cricket, and football are far more popular
than they used to be. New outdoor pursuits,
like cycling, have come into fashion. Open
spaces for recreation and exercise have been
improved and increased. The Forbury, once
a waste, is now a garden : and to-day we also
possess Palmer Park, Prospect Park, and the
King's Meadow.
III. People have wider interests than for-
merly. — The life of the town is no longer pent
up within itself, jealous of intruders, rarely
coming into contact with the great world out-
side. This old local seclusion and separateness
was broken up by the railway, the penny post,
the telegraph, and the telephone. It can
never return. Not only do all classes travel
about the country more than they did, but
they have become citizens of the world. Every
day letters and telegrams pour into Reading
from all parts of Britain and from distant
232 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
lands. If a great event happens, the news
flashes round the globe and from city to city
on the electric wires. Steam and electricitv
have bound together all the branches of the
human family, and they have altered the
conditions of civilised life more than any
other change except the alphabet and the
printing press.
IV. People read more, and more people are
educated. — Instead of one weekly paper in
Reading, there are now four. Every day piles
of London newspapers and magazines are
brought by rail and distributed. At the Free
Library there are quantities of books, papers,
and magazines, which any one can read with-
out payment. Consider, too, what has become
of the movement which, in 1810 and 1813,
gave to Heading its first public elementary
schools. Almost every person can now at least
read and write. No child, however poor, is
allowed to grow up in ignorance. Splendid
elementary schools stand in all parts of the
town. In addition to them there are the
Kendrick Schools for boys and girls. Reading
School has moved to a larger site, and has
been rebuilt. The University College has
arisen, to provide higher education for those
who have finished schooling. All through
the winter there are lectures, and evening
THE GREAT CHANGE. 233
classes in many subjects, and concerts.
People no longer sit at home by the fireside,
afraid to go out because the streets are dark
and footpads lurk in corners. Changed indeed
is the life of Reading in these respects.
Yet man is not a nobler creature for being
able to read, if he only reads trash. Slip-
shod notions about things in general do not
help him or any one else. He is not much
better for plentiful means of education, unless
he has the will to learn, the will to endure
systematic effort. Amid the lavish plenty of
a cheap press, he must learn to form his
choice of books according to a high standard.
Tn poetry, in fiction, in history, in science he
must turn to the master-writers of lasting
fame. On no other terms can the only know-
ledge worth having be won.
These, then, are some of the ways in which
the life and character of Reading has deeply
changed in modern times. There are many
others. For example, it is likely that people
work harder than they did formerly, since in
every walk of life competition is severer. A
century ago Reading was a town of small busi-
nesses and workshops ; nowadays some of the
businesses are upon a great scale, and factories
234 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
have taken the place of small workshops.
The shop windows are now fnll of goods
brought from all parts of the world, and most
articles — such as cloth, furniture, and metal
goods — are now made by machinery, and not
by hand. Again, as the town has grown
bigger, and interests have become more wide-
spread, and people move from place to place
more easily, perhaps the old feeling, that the
inhabitants of Reading are as one large
family, has grown weaker. Many persons
would say that it is only by accident that
they live in Reading, and not in another place,
and that they cannot pretend to take any
interest in the town. We cannot imagine all
Reading people dining together in the streets
nowadays, or even wanting to do so. On the
other hand, the management of town affairs
is no longer centred in a few hands and car-
ried on secretly. The Town Council is elected
by the votes of great numbers of citizens, and
what is done by the Council, or by the
Education Committee, or by the Board of
Guardians, is done publicly.
Reading is now less often the scene of
events of national importance, for modern
Britain is dotted with towns, many of which
are far bigger than Reading. Nor has modern
Reading any claim to equal, in respect of the
THE GREAT CHANGE. 235
beauty and grandeur of its "buildings, the
Reading of the Abbey and the Friary. Never-
theless, of all the towns in southern England
inheriting famous traditions from the middle
ages, none, perhaps, has shown as great an
energy in modern times as the town of Read-
ing. Some, it would seem, are content to say,
IVe have been famous, let us now rest. But
Reading has scorned to rest; wide fame is
hers to-day, no less than when her Abbey
flourished, though it may be fame of another
kind. Her life and growth are not spent.
XLII.
CONCLUSION.
Stirred up with high hopes- of living to be brave men
and worthy patriots, dear to God and famous to all
-John Milton.
Love of home and love of fatherland are in-
stincts deeply rooted in the heart of civilised
man. Upon their vigorous health depends
the true greatness of cities and states. It is,
indeed, well to cultivate patriotism without
loss of manners. Because we belong to
Reading, we need not, as in old days, cherish
dislike and jealousy of less fortunate people
who dwell beyond her borders. Because we
are Britons, we need not denounce Spaniards
and Frenchmen as our natural enemies. In
the words of a great man, it is our duty so
to be patriots^ as not to forget we are gentle-
men. A gentleman, it has been well said,
is one who never willingly inflicts pain.
We are to be patriots. Because we care
for what lies beyond the horizons of Beading,
we are not to think meanly of Reading.
230
CONCLUSION. 237
Because we are courteous to foreigners, we are
not to be any the less staunch Englishmen
and Britons. We are to respect ourselves.
We are charged with a noble stewardship.
We stand at the end of a long line, heirs of
famous traditions, citizens of a great land.
It is true that the past of no country has
been free from stain or from unhappiness.
But it is not of her shortcomings that the
strong man thinks, when he recalls the
memory of his mother ; and, therefore,
when we think of our native town or our
native land, we are to recall what is best. To
Beading, as we have seen, belong a thousand
years of history. Famous names are written
in her annals ; high achievement has been
hers more than once ; her life has exemplified
memorable passages in the larger life of
England. Let these things enter into our
minds. The psalmist bade men mark well
the palaces and towers of Sion, that they
might tell them that came after. St. Paul
was proud to be a citizen of Tarsus. We
may be glad to be associated with a town
which has played no mean part in the history
of England.
As for England, the mother of nations,
we may well remember that those, who have
wrought for her most greatly and spoken of
238 THE STORY OF THE TOWN OF READING.
her most finely have loved her most. We
may well be proud to belong to a country
for which Alfred, Elizabeth, Cromwell, Pitt,
and Nelson felt so touching a devotion ; to a
country which for Tennyson was —
A land of just and old renown;
and for Shakespeare —
This land of such dear souls, this dear, dear land,
Dear for her reputation through the world.
INDEX
Abbey of Battle, property of, 36-7
Abbey of Cluny, 41
Abbey of Reading- (see Heading)
Agreement of 1254, 79-80
Aldwortb, Richard, 175-6
Ales, Church, 90
Alfred (at Reading), 27
Amusements, 223-4, 231
Ashdown, Battle of, 28
Aston, Sir Arthur, 153, 157, 159
Avon Canal, Kennet and, 190
Baptists, 173
Basing, Marquis of, 129
Battle Abbey, property of, 36-7
Becket, Thomas, 70-1
Bells, 91
Biscuits, 211-2
Blagrave, John, 95, 118
„ „ benefactions of,
177-8
Blue Coat School, foundation of,
175-6
Bordars, 35
Bowyer, Ludowick, 131-4
Bridge, Cavers bam, 21, 74, 116,
152, 157-8, 188
British School, 200-1
Bull baiting, 224
Bunyan, John, 173
Burgesses of Parliament, 140-4
Burh of Reading, 35-6
Cadogan, William Bromley, 219
Canal, Kennet and Avon, 190
Canals and roads, 187-92
Catholic congregation, 219
Caversham Bridge, 21, 74, 116
152, 157-8, 188
Cemetery, 218
Charles I. (at Reading), 152-3
„ ,, execution of, 168
Cheese Fair, 193-5
Church Ales, 90
Churches (see Saint and Grey
Friars)
Churches, ancient Reading, 7
Cloth trade, 55-6, 81, 115, 153,
175, 187, 208
Clunv, Abbey of, 41
Coaching, 216
Coaching route through Reading,
20
Cocks' Reading Sauce, 208
Cole, Thomas, 55
College, University, 232
Corporation, Constitution of,
216-7, 234
Creed, William, 96
Cromwell, Thomas, 100, 106-7
Cromwell, Oliver, 124-5
„ ,, (at Reading),
169
Danegeld, 33 n
Danes (at Reading), 25, 31-2
Decree of 1507, 84
Domesday Book, 33-8
Drainage, 117, 218, 230
Duel of 1163, 69-70
Edward III. (at Reading), 75-6
Edward VI. (at Reading), 112
Edward the Martyr, 30-1
239
240
INDEX.
Elections, Parliamentary, 140-4,
219-20
Elementary Schools, 200-1
Elfrida, nunnery of, 30-1
Elizabeth, 94
„ (at Reading), 114
Englefield, Battle of, 27
Essex, Earl of, 154-6, 161
Ethelred, 27-8
Ethelred the Redeless, 31
Executions. 198
Factory, Biscuit, 211-2
Fairs, 193-5
Farringdon, Hugh Cook, 104-8
Fielding, Richard, 157-8
Fire engines, 117, 217-8
Fox, George, 173-4
Free gift, 137
Free Library, 232
Free School, founding of, 92-7
Friars, Grey (see Grey Friars)
Friends, Society of, 173-4, 199
Gild Hall, 62-3
Gild Merchant, 55-66
„ „ and Abbey, quar-
rel between, 78-85
Great Rebellion, causes of, 124-30
Great Western Railway, 205-7
Grey Friars, 50-4
„ Church of, 8, 11,
52-4, 155, 197
„ „ end of, 103
House of, 118
Hampden, John, 136, 155, 161-3
Handicrafts, 91
Henry I. (founder of Reading
Abbey), 39
,, „ burial of, 68
Henry II. (at Reading), 70-3
Henry III. „ „ 74
Henry VII. „ „ 93-4
Henry VIII. „ „ 105
Henry of Essex, 69-70
Heraclius, 72-3
Hinton, John Howard, 219
Hock tide, 88
Hospital, 218
Hospital of St. John, 42, 44, 94,
154
Howard, John, 196
Huntley, Thomas, 211
Incorporation of 1542, 84-5
Independents, 172
Institution, Mechanics', 221
Juice, Thomas, 172
Kendrick, John, benefactions of,
176-7
Kendrick Schools, 232
Kennet and Avon Canal, 190
Kidnapping of Mayor, 164-6
Knollys, Sir Francis, 109, 142
Lancasterian School, 200-1
Laud, William, 95, 132, 134,
145-51
„ „ benefactions to
Reading of,
150-1
Library, Free, 232
Lighting, 117, 217, 233
Lollards, 115 n
Lower, Lieut.-Col., 164-6
Mace, 82, 169-70
Marshal, William, 74
Mary Tudor (at Reading), 113
Mayor, kidnapping of, 164-6
„ office and title of, 59-60,
65
Mechanics' Institution, 221
Merchant, Gild, 55-66
„ quarrel between
Abbey and Gild, 78-85
Mercury, Reading, 184-6, 202-3
205
Mills, 35, 37
Milton, Christopher, 163
INDEX.
241
Mint, 36
Monasteries, 40
fall of, 98-103
Montfort, Robert of, 69-70
National Society and Schools, 201
Newbury, 130
Nonconformists, 128-9, 171-4, 219
Nunnery of Elfrida, 30-1
Oracle, 176-7
Palmer, George, 211-3
Samuel, 212
William Isaac, 212
Palmer, Jocelin, 109-11
Parliament, burgesses of, 140-4
Parliamentary elections, 140-4,
219-20
Parliaments (at Reading), 76
Pauperism, 222, 230
Penn, William, 174
Penny post, 216
Pillory, 119, 198-9
Plague, 122-3
Plays, 89
Population, growth of, 228-9
Prices of necessaries, 221-2
Prisoners of war (at Reading),
223
Prisons, 196-7, 230
Prize fights, 224
Puritans, 127-8, 117-8, 171
Railway, Great Western, 205-7
Rebellion, causes of Great,
124-30
Reading, meaning of word, 14
„ early site of, 11, 16
,, advantages of site of,
15-17
„ approaches to, 18-23
,, battle with Danes at,
27-8
„ destruction of by
Sweyn, 31-2
„ in Domesday Book,
34-7
Reading, a bur It, 35-6
,, Parliaments at, 76
in 1610, 10
„ in Civil War, geo-
graphical importance
of, 130
„ in Civil War, fortifica-
tions of, 155-6, 164
., in Civil War, siege of,
152-60
skirmish at, 179-83
„ soldiers quartered at,
222-3
in 1813, 9
,, Reform Act celebra-
tions at, 202-4
,, coaching route
through, 20
fairs, 193-5
Reading Abbey, foundation and
buildings of,
41-4
., ,, hallowing of,
70-2
life at, 45
„ ,, influence upon
the town of,
46-9
„ „ incidents at, 67-
77
„ fall of, 98-103
,, „ powers and dig-
nities of Abbot
of, 46, 67
,, „ last Abbot of,
101-8
Readinq Mercury, 184-6, 202-3,
205
Reading School (see also Free
School), 220
Roads and canals, 187-92
St. Francis, 50
St. Giles's Church, 7, 11, 157, 182
St. John's College, 95, 146
St. John's Hospital, 42, 44, 94, 154
St. Lawrence's Church, 7, 86-91,
114, 118, 177-8
St. Mary's Church, 7, 181
16
242
iNDEX.
School, Blue Coat, 175-6
School, British or Lancasterian,
200-1
School, Heading (or Free), 92-7,
220, 232
Schools, Elementary, 200-1
Schools, Kendrick, 232
Seeds, 208-11
Ship Money, 135-9
Siege of Reading, 152-60
Skirmish, Reading, 179-83
Society, National, 200-1
Society of Friends, 173-1, 199
Star Chamber punishment,
131-4
Stocks, 119, 198
Sunday Schools, 200, 219
Sutton, Alfred, 209
„ John, 209
„ Martin Hope, 209, 212
Tournaments (at Reading), 75-6
Trade, Cloth, 55-6, 81, 115, 153,
175, 187, 208
„ Wool, 55-6
Turner, Thomas, 95, 97
University College, 232
Valpv, Dr., 220
Villeins, 34
Wages of burgesses in Parlia-
ment, 141
Wallingford, 36, 164-6
Watchmen, 197
Water supply, 117, 217, 230
Wessex, 24
Western Railway, Great, 205-7
Whipping posts, 119
White, Sir Thomas, 95
William III. (at Reading), 170
Wool Trade, 55-6
Printed and bound by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ld., London and Aylesbury.
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